HUTCHIN8  &  HYATT. 

LNCOLN 

Anthracite  mid  Bituminous 

COAT 

I-C-E 

COMPANY. 

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1040  0  Street, 

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i 

Office,  1040  O  St., 

Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

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LINCOLN,        =        -        NEBRASKA. 


Cosily  Ihy  habil  as  Ihy  purse  can  buy ;  but  not 
expressed  in/aJicy :  rich,  not  gatidy ;  for  the  apparel 
oft  proclaims  the  man. 


—  SUA  KESPEANE. 


UrrAArifeRlCHTER- 


iiAi  Ig  rs 


[mcoLri   _^ 


1201  &  1206  0  Street,  BURR  BLOCK. 


I_iJ^i?.G-EST    Sa?OGIC 


^yEST.\ 


FINK  WOOT.ENS  IN  TIIK  WEST. 


Superior  Workmanship. 


Superb  Trimmings. 

Perfect  Fit  Gttaranteed. 


HISTORY 


City  of  Lincoln 


NEBRASKA 


^VITH  BRIEF  HISTORICAL  SKETCHES  OF  THE 
STATE  AND  OF  LANCASTER  COUNTY. 


AN     ACCURATK     COMPILATION     OF     FACTS    AND     HISTORICAL     DATES,    TOGETHKB 

WITH    MANY    INTERESTING    REMINISCENCES    OF     THE    EARLY 

DAYS    OF    LINCOLN. 


THE  LINCOLN  OF  TO-DAY  AND  THE  TERRITORY  OVER  WHICH 
SHE  HOLDS  COMMERCIAL  SUPREMACY. 


A.  B.  HAYES  AND  SAM.  D.  COX. 


LINCOLN,  NEB.: 

STATE   JOURNAL   COMPANY.   PRINTERS. 
1889. 


/ 


PKEFAOE. 


The  authors  of  this  work  have  undertaken  the  task  of  recording 
the  history  of  Lincoln  at  this  time,  because  they  felt  that  it  was  a 
work  that  should  be  performed  while  it  was  still  possible  to  get  the 
facts  from  those  who  are  personally  cognizant  of  them.  Even  at  this 
time,  only  twenty -two  years  away  from  the  founding  of  the  city,  much 
difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  getting  the  absolute  facts  of  the  early 
days ;  and  while  great  care  has  been  taken  to  secure  strict  accuracy  in 
all  the  features  of  this  work,  the  authors  cannot  hope  to  have  been  en- 
tirely successful  in  their  endeavor.  But  the  volume  is  given  to  the 
public  with  the  request  that  such  credit  be  given  to  it  as  is  due  to  work 
conscientiously  and  honestly  performed.  History  is  made  rapidly  in 
this  representative  city  of  a  wonderfully  developing  State,  and  the 
authors  of  this  work  expect  to  continue  in  the  future  the  work  they 
have  begun  in  the  following  pages.  They  therefore  request  all  who 
read  this  volume  to  notify  them  of  any  inaccuracies  that  may  be  dis- 
covered in  its  pages,  and  to  communicate  to  them  any  facts  omitted 
herein  and  which  would  be  of  interest  and  value  to  the  people  of  Lin- 
coln and  of  the  State  as  a  part  of  the  city's  history.  The  authors  de- 
sire to  express  their  thanks  to  those  persons  who  have  generously 
assisted  in  the  preparation  of  these  pages,  among  whom  may  be  men- 
tioned Hon.  C.  H.  Gere,  Hon.  John  Gillespie,  Col.  Simon  Benadom, 
Hon,  Thomas  Hyde,  Hon.  John  S.  Gregory,  Major  Bohanan,  and 
others. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. 

11. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XL 

XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 


PAGE 

The  Lincoln  of  To-day 9 

Coronado's  Discovery  of  Nebraska 15 

Nebraska  from  Territorial  Times 25 

Nebraska's  Resources 57 

Early  Settlement  of  Lancaster  County 67 

Lancaster  County  Politically 82 

The  Salt  Basins 90 

Removal  of  the  Capital  to  Lincoln 100 

Incidents  of  the  Capital  Removal 114 

An  Interesting  Document  —  The  Original  Report  of  the  Capital 

Commissioners 124 

The  Village  of  Lancaster  from  its  Founding  to  1667  —  Reminis- 
cences of  the  Early  Days 136 

Lincoln  from  1867  to  1869 147 

Lincoln  for  Twenty  Years — The  Wonderful  Growth  into  a  City,  164 

Lincoln  Politically 177 

The  Railroads  which  Enter  the  City  — The  great  Territory  which 

they  lay  Tributary  to  Her 200 

The  State  Institutions  —  The  Penitentiary  Revolt 213 

Lincoln  as  an  Educational  Center 226 

The  Churches  of  the  City 247 

Secret  Orders 277  ' 

Irish  National  League  —  Sketches  of  its  Prominent  Leaders 299 

Financial  Institutions  of  the  city 313 

The  Press  of  Lincoln 325 

Incarceration  of  the  City  Council 335 

The  Tartarrax  Pageant 339 

Formation  of  the  Old  Settlers'  Association — Its  list  of  members,  346 
Lincoln's  Remarkable  growth — Sketches  of  Some  of  her  Prom- 
inent Citizens 357 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Lincolx  of  To-day — Why  the  City  has  Geowx  so  Rapidly,  and  why 
Expectations  of  Future  Gkowth  ake  Reasonable — The  Couxtry 
Tributary  to  Lincoln— What  Lincoln  Realli"  is  and  has. 

A  city  is  buildecl  upon  a  great  water  way,  where  the  commerce  of 
half  a  hundred  states  may  float  to  its  wharves ;  near  the  waters  of  a 
rapid  stream  that  frets  its  banks  with  the  impatient  power  which 
might  turn  the  busy  wheels  of  a  hundred  mills;  where  the  generous 
earth  needs  but  to  be  asked,  to  give  up  for  man's  uses  unlimited  stores 
of  baser  metals  and  tlie  fuel  with  which  they  may  be  converted  into 
things  of  utility  and  beauty ;  at  the  foot  of  mountains  filled  with  gold 
and  silver  that  attract  thousands  of  fortune  seekers,  wild  with  dreams 
of  sudden  wealth,  and  yield  to  Fortune's  favored  few  the  incomes  of 
princes  and  kings. 

Another  city  is  builded  where  no  vessels  float,  no  water  power 
roars  and  foams,  no  coal  nor  iron  nor  gold  nor  silver  rewards  the 
delver  in  the  earth ;  where  nature  oifers  no  bonus  to  the  favored  few, 
nor  cheats  the  many  with  the  baseless  fabric  of  dreams  never  to  be 
fulfilled,  but  with  even-handed  justice  holds  out  to  all  the  promise  of 
an  adequate  return  for  labor  faithfully  performed. 

Capital  flows  to  the  first  city  to  take  the  bonus  held  out  by  nature's 
hand,  and  builds  with  the  accumulations  of  other  times  and  other 
fields,  in  the  hope  of  an  ultimate  return.  Men  to  whose  imagina- 
tions the  extraordinary  advantages  of  the  place  appeal,  flock  to  it  in 
the  hope  that  there  they  may  obtain  the  reward  of  labor  without  the 
unpleasant  necessity  of  its  exercise.  It  is  built  from  without.  Its 
future  is  mortgaged  to  the  capitalist  —  it  has  borrowed  his  money  in- 
stead of  making  it.  Its  continuing  present  is  menaced  by  its  poorer 
citizens,  who  have  come  to  find  wealth,  not  to  produce  it.  But  its 
2  (9) 


10  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

trrowtli  i<^  rapid,  for  it  holds  out  the  gambler's  hope  of  enormous  gains, 
and  api^eals  to  the  imagination  of  the  restless  emigrant. 

The  secontl  I'itv  attracts  little  ca})ital  from  the  outside;  it  has  no 
extraordinarv  inducements  to  appeal  to  capital.  The  eyes  of  the  coun- 
try are  not  turned  ui)on  it ;  it  has  nothing  within  it  to  excite  the  im- 
au-ination  of  the  emigrant  or  fortune  hunter.  The  capital  within  it 
is  that  only  which  it  has  itself  produced.  The  residents  are  only 
those  who  have  come  because  of  the  employment  which  they  have  been 
enabled  to  find  in  the  ordinary  avenues  of  life. 

If  these  two  cities  grow  side  by  side,  and  the  second  shows  the  same 
percentage  of  growth  as  the  first,  which  is  the  more  remarkable?  the 
one  which  has  displayed  lavish  natural  advantages  to  attract  capital 
and  excite  the  imagination  of  the  world,  or  the  one  which  could  only 
hold  out  as  an  incentive  the  hope  of  moderate  returns  for  energy  and 
industry? 

If  these  two  cities  grow  at  an  even  pace,  which  has  the  more  sub- 
stantial prosperity  and  the  more  solid  basis  for  future  growth?  the 
one  which  has  been  built  up  from  the  outside,  which  has  attracted 
population  by  vague  and  extraordinary  promises ;  or  the  one  which 
has  grown  out  of  its  own  resources,  and  whose  people  have  come  to  it 
because  they  saw  Avork  awaiting  them  which  they  were  willing  to  do? 

An  extraordinary  effect  ceases  to  be  extraordinary  when  it  is  found 
to  follow  an  extraordinary  cause.  An  extraordinary  effect  for  which 
no  extraordinary  cause  can  be  discovered,  becomes  a  phenomenon. 

The  groM'th  of  Lincoln  has  been  more  remarkable  than  that  of  any 
other  city  in  the  AVest.  It  has  no  fuel,  no  mines,  no  water  power, 
no  remarkable  natural  advantages :  and  yet,  on  the  spot  where  twenty- 
one  years  ago  the  emigrant,  in  his  lonely  covered  wagon,  scared  the 
timid  antelope  from  its  grassy  couch,  and  scanned  the  horizon  with 
anxious  eye  to  see  if  he  might  discover  the  form  of  some  Indian  brave 
cutting  its  even  line,  fifty  thousand  busy  people  throng  the  streets  of 
a  great  city;  a  city  which  reaches  200,000  square  miles  of  territory, 
and  2,0(l(),0(K)  people,  by  ten  radiating  lines  of  railroad  which  do  a 
business  of  nearly  a  million  tons  per  year,  and  give  employment  to 
1,350  men;  a  city  which  is  traversed  by  thirty-five  miles  of  street 
railway,  and  has  seven  miles  of  paving,  with  as  much  more  provided 
for;  twenty  miles  of  sewerage,  twenty  miles  of  water  mains;  a  hun- 
dred jobbing  houses  and  as  many  factories;  four  great  State  institu- 


THE    LINCOLN    OF    TO-DAY.  11 

tions,  besides  the  Capitol ;  three  universities;  a  million  dollars  invested 
in  church  property;  and  hundreds  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  State. 

The  growth  of  Lincoln  has  not  excited  widespread  interest  over 
the  country  because  there  has  been  nothing  sensational  connected  with 
it;  and  yet  there  is  no  visitor  to  the  city  who  does  not  express  the 
amazement  which  he  feels  when  he  learns  its  size  and  importance. 
Indeed,  half  the  residents  of  Lincoln  are  themselves  amazed  when 
they  drive  about  the  city  and  see  the  growth  and  improvements  which 
have  been  going  on  while  they  slept.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  the 
growth  has  been  due  not  to  extraordinary  causes,  but  to  the  steadv 
though  rapid  development  of  the  country  of  which  Lincoln  has  be- 
come the  most  convenient  point  to  supply.  An  agricultural  region 
is  the  richest  in  the  world ;  but  its  development  is  steady  and  com- 
monplace. Lincoln  is  the  railroad  center  of  as  magnificent  an  agricul- 
tural empire  as  exists  in  the  world ;  and  the  whole  secret  of  her  great 
and  rapid  growth  lies  in  this  fact.  This  growth  has  been  so  quiet  as 
hardly  to  excite  comment;  but  it  is  as  substantial,  and  certain  of  con- 
tinuance, as  is  that  natural  and  irresistable  development  in  which  its 
roots  are  driven  deep. 

The  explanation  of  the  growth  to  greatness,  of  a  city  which  could 
boast  of  no  water  power,  mines,  fuel,  nor  other  so-called  "natural  ad- 
vantages," lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  commerce,  and  not  manutiictures, 
that  builds  great  cities.  Natural  advantages  may  aiford  the  founda- 
tion for  a  limited  number  of  factories ;  cheap  coal  may  give  birth  to 
a  few  industries  in  the  operation  of  which  fuel  is  the  most  expensive 
item;  abundant  raw  material  may  attract  a  few  of  the  factories  which 
use  the  material;  and  these  factories  may  support  a  hundred  or  a 
thousand  families :  if  they  support  five  thousand  families  the  limit  of 
population  may  be  little  beyond  this  number.  Some  of  the  largest 
manufacturing  institutions  in  the  United  States  are  in  small  towns. 
They  present  no  attractions  to  anybody  except  to  a  man  who  wants  to 
buy  a  bill  of  goods  and  get  away,  or  to  the  sight  seer  whose  curiosity 
is  of  a  limited  and  special  character.  But  commerce  knows  no  natu- 
ral limitations.  Given  the  means  of  reaching  a  great  and  populous 
territory,  and  a  commercial  city  lays  under  tribute  the  factories  of  the 
world,  and  turns  to  its  own  profit  the  special  advantages  that  have 
given  rise  to  a  thousand  manufacturing  towns.  It  becomes  the  center 
to  which  tradesmen  of  every  kind  collect  to  purchase  their  wares ;  to 


12  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Nvliic'li  the  members  of"  all  prot'essions  gather  to  procure  those  things 
which  they  use  in  the  practice  of  their  vocations ;  to  which  the  sight 
seer  and  the  politician  gravitate  to  see  the  most  of  things  or  persons 
in  the  shortest  time.  In  the  commercial  center  supply  and  demand 
meet  in  everv  avenue  of  life, —  mercantile,  professional,  physical,  in- 
tellectual, a'sthetic,  moral.  The  diversity  of  interests  in  such  a  city 
becomes  its  greatest  power  of  attraction :  every  source  of  supply 
seeks  there  a  demand ;  every  demand  seeks  there  a  source  of  sujijjly. 
There  are  no  waterways  west  of  the  jNIississippi  river  which  are  of 
service  to  commerce,  and  it  is  at  the  great  railway  center,  wherever 
that  mav  by  man  be  placed,  that  she  sets  her  throne. 

It  is  bv  virtue  of  being  such  a  railway  center  that  Lincoln  has 
grown  so  marvelously;  grown  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  "natural  atl- 
vantases;"  grown  in  the  face  of  the  repeated  predictions  of  her  own 
citizens  that  no  further  growth  could  be  looked  for.     And  that  growth 
will  continue  until  the  development  of  the  country  which  her  railroads 
make  tributary  to  her  shall  cease.     The  railroad  system  of  most  im- 
j)ortance  to  Lincoln  is  the  Burlington  Sz  Missouri  River  Railroad, 
which  has  nearly  2,500  miles  of  track  in  the  State,  and  almost  as 
mucii  as  all  the  other  roads.     There  is  no  city  in  the  country  so  pre- 
eminently tiie  center  of  any  railroad  as  Lincoln  is  of  the  B.  cV:  M. 
The  road  has  six  lines  radiating  from  Lincoln  to  every  part  of  the 
State.     It  handles  all  its  transferring  and  reshipping  here,  as  it  has  no 
yardage  at  any  other  place  in  the  State.     Here  it  has  forty-two  miles 
of  side  track,  on  Mhich  800  men  handle  from   1,000  to  2,000  cars  a 
day.     Over  these  radiating  roads  there  run  out  from  Ijincoln  every 
week-day  thirteen  passenger  trains  and  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  freight 
trains.     The  system  girds  the  entire  southern  half  of  the  State,  and 
reaches  out  into  northwestern  Nebraska  by  three  parallel  lines  which 
will  occupy  three-fourths  of  the  northern  half  of  the  State  and  extend 
into  the  mining  regions  of  Wyoming  and  Idaho,  and  the  cattle  ranches 
of  Hakota  and  Montana.     Every  j)ound  of  merchandise  that  jiasses 
into  all  this  vast  territory  from  eastern   points  of  supply,  anil  every 
pound  (jf  grain,  and  every  hog  and  steer  that  goes  out  of  the  State 
over  the  ]i.  tS:  j\L  system,  passes  through  Lincoln. 

Besides  this  system,  the  Elkhorn  operates  over  900  miles  of  road 
in  the  State,  giving  Lincoln  connection  with  all  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  State  to  the  line:  the  I'nion  Pacific  oj)erates  over  875  miles  of 


THE    LINCOLN    OF    TO-DAY.  13 

track,  giving  Liucolii  oonueotiou  Avitli  the  Pacific  coast  and  with  the 
southern  systems  in  Kansas;  the  Missouri  Pacific  has  400  miles  of 
track  in  the  State,  and  gives  Lincoln  a  short  line  to  Kansas  Citv,  St. 
Louis,  and  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  places  the  city  in  direct  com- 
munication Avith  the  southern  markets. 

In  an  elaborate  review  of  Lincoln's  railroad  situation,  published 
March  12,  1888,  in  a  special  edition  of  the  State.  Democrat,  prepared 
by  one  of  the  authors  of  this  history,  it  was  shown  that  the  popula- 
tion reached  directly  by  Lincoln's  railroads  was  989,591.  This  was 
an  accurate  estimate,  made  up  from  the  censuses  and  votes  of  the  coun- 
ties reached  by  the  roads  in  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Colorado,  and 
did  not  include  any  of  that  vast  territory  in  Colorado,  New  Mexico, 
and  Wyoming,  which  is  reached  by  lines  connecting  with  Lincoln's 
roads,  and  in  which  Lincoln  jobbers  are  doing  a  large  and  rapidly- 
increasing  business. 

There  is  a  philosophy  of  history ;  and  this  brief  discussion  of  the 
territory  tributary  to  Lincoln,  and  the  city's  facilities  for  reaching  it, 
has  been  given  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  his- 
torian's duty  to  explain  the  causes  of  events,  as  well  as  to  chronicle 
events  themselves.  The  value  of  such  historical  study  is  in  enabling 
the  student  to  make  the  past  foreshadow  the  future;  and  the  follow- 
ing summary  of  the  possibilities  of  Lincoln's  growth,  taken  from  the 
article  referred  to  above,  is  deduced  from  the  study  made  therein : 

"But  it  may  be  asked  what  grounds  there  are  on  w^hich  to  expect 
that  the  country  tributary  to  Lincoln  will  increase  so  steadily  and 
rapidly  in  popttlation  as  to  build  up  a  great  commercial  center  here. 
The  reply  is  that  nearly  all  this  territory  is  the  very  best  kind  of 
agricultural  land,  and  that  such  land  is  too  valuable  to  be  idle.  This, 
we  take  pains  to  say  again,  is  not  mere  assertion.  The  settlement  of 
the  western  counties  of  Nebraska  has  been  and  is  marvelous.  A  few 
examples  are  given  below,  with  authentic  figures  showing  the  popula- 
tion in  1880,  in  1885,  and  in  1887,  together  with  the  population  that 
the  same  territory  would  have  at  thirty-five  per  square  mile: 


14 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


COL'XTIKS. 

1 

Population 

in  ISSO. 

Population 
in  1SS5. 

Population 

in  1SS7. 

Pop.  at 

thirty-five 

per 
sq.  mile. 

Blaine  (uuorgauized  in  1880) 

Brown  (^unorganized  in  1880) 

Chase 

70 
1558 

275 
6689 

170 
1653 
2619 
12399 
2516 
2919 

1524 
16971 

5196 
13800 

8500 
21600 
10000 
10000 

25200 
80640 
30240 

Clieveuue 

275625 

Cherrv  (unorganized  in  1880) 

195300 

Custer 

2211 

90720 

Dawes  (unoro'anized  in  1880) 

47880 

Sheridan  (unorganized  in  1880) 

86310 

Total 

3839 

29240 

87591 

831915 

"These  figures  are  accurate,  although  one  who  is  unacquainted  with 
the  development  of  the  great  AVest  might  well  imagine  that  they  were 
the  creation  of  some  statistical  romancer.  Here  is  a  region,  nearly 
all  of  which  was  so  sparsely  settled  as  to  be  unorganized  in  1880,  now 
supporting  a  population  of  87,591 ;  an  empire  which  would  easily 
su])port  800,000  people.  The  estimate  of  thirty-five  \)er  square  mile 
is  not  an  extravagant  one.  Kentucky  has  forty  people  per  square 
mile;  Indiana  and  Illinois  have  each  fifty-four;  Ohio  has  seventy- 
seven;  New  York  has  103;  Connecticut  has  124;  and  Rhode  Island 
has  243.  If  Cheyenne  county  had  as  many  people  per  square  mile 
as  Rhode  Island,  her  population  would  be  1,918,620. 

"Is  it  anv  Avonder  that  Nebraska  villages  have  ti^rown  into  cities 
in  a  few  years?  Is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  that  this  growth  is  but 
the  substantial  and  inevitable  result  of  the  development  of  the  State? 
Is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  that  Lincoln  will  become  a  great  city 
Avhen  the  1,000,000  people  now  directly  tributary  may  be  swelled  to 
5,000,000  without  making  the  population  more  dense  than  that  now 
sujiportcd  by  Indiana  and  Illinois?" 


EARLY    NEBRASKA.  15 


CHAPTER  II. 

Eaely  Nebraska — Its  Discoveky  in  1540 — The  Eaely  Legends  of  the 
Land  of  Quiveea — Cokonado's  Visit — The  Explorations  of  Pena- 
LOSA — The  Points  Reached  by  These   First  Visitors  to  Nebraska. 

Nebraska  as  a  State  is  comparatively  new.  As  a  country  its  his- 
tory dates  back  centuries,  covered  partly  by  the  records  of  the  priests, 
the  old-time  chroniclers,  and  partly  by  the  legends  which  have  come 
down  to  us  through  generations  from  the  ()ld  Spanish  settlers  in  Mex- 
ico, and  the  Indians  who  inhabited  the  land.  The  early  history  of 
Nebraska  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  all  this  western  country,  extend- 
ing from  the  Missouri  river  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  from  the 
Platte  river  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  westward  into  Mexico,  Around 
and  over  all  this  region  is  thrown  the  glamour  and  halo  of  the  early 
days  of  chivalry  in  America,  and  the  tales  the  legends  tell  are  vague 
and  weird  enough  to  form  the  climax  of  any  tale  of  chivalry,  ro- 
mance, or  discovery.  Away  back  three  centuries  and  a  half  ago  be- 
gins the  legendary  history  of  Nebraska.  At  that  time  the  Land  of 
the  Sun,  Mexico,  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  Spaniards,  and 
from  the  City  of  Mexico  exploring  parties  were  wont  to  take  their 
trips  of  discovery  and  exploration,  led  hither  and  thither  by  the  fre- 
quent stories  of  wealth  and  splendor  told  the  people  by  Indians  who 
had  strayed  into  that  southern  capital,  or  had  been  captured  by  the 
Spaniards  in  some  of  their  frequent  raids  into  the  adjacent  territories. 
Legend  has  it  that  years  before  the  first  recorded  date,  troops  of 
Spanish  cavaliers,  traveling  northward,  entered  a  vast  territory  of 
grassy  plains,  crossed  by  broad  rivers,  which  was  said  to  be  the  home 
of  a  wonderfully  wealthy  people,  whose  cities,  rich  beyond  compare, 
numbered  seven.  Later  research  has  shown  that  some  of  these  expe- 
ditions undoubtedly  crossed  what  is  now  the  northern  boundary  line 
of  Kansas,  and  camped  and  traveled  within  the  territory  now  known 
as  Nebraska. 

As  early  as  1536,  legendary  history  tells  us,  the  Spaniards  in  Mex- 


16  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

ico  had  heard  fairy  tales  of  a  hind  far  to  the  northward,  ealk-d  Quivera 
—  a  hind  of  unlimited  wealth,  of  populous  eities  with  lofty  dwellings 
and  stores  fairly  glittering  with  gold  and  silver  and  precious  gems, 
whose  people  lived  in  a  style  of  grandeur  unknown  in  this  country, 
and  who  were  highly  civilized,  and  ac(juainted  with  tiie  arts.  In  the 
vear  1536  four  men,  half  starved  and  worn  witli  toil,  heat,  cold,  ship- 
wrecks, and  battles  with  the  natives,  reached  the  City  of  ^Mexico  from 
the  mountains  and  plains  of  the  north.  These  four  men  were  all  that 
were  left  of  a  band  of  four  hundred  Spaniards  that  eight  years  before 
had  landed  on  the  coast  of  Florida,  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  that 
unknown  country.  That  company  of  troops  had  traveled  to  the  north- 
westward many  weary  years,  bnt  hunger,  toil,  and  conflicts  with  the 
hostile  tribes  of  Indians  they  met,  had  reduced  the  ranks  to  the  four, 
M'hose  coming  into  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  the  marvelous  tales  they 
told,  excited  the  curiosity  of  the  people.  This  band  of  four  hundred 
had  evidently  traversed  the  country  from  the  southeast  as  far  north  as 
Kansas,  and  west  through  Colorado.  The  stories  of  these  four  men 
t'OuHrmed  the  legends  that  had  been  handed  down  among  the  Mexi- 
cans lor  many  generations,  and  if  they  had  been  doubted  before,  none 
now  dared  to  dispute  the  existence  to  the  northward  of  a  country  such 
as  had  been  pictured  to  them. 

From  this  time  forward  we  have  not  to  depend  upon  legends  only, 
for  the  events  following  this  date  were  recorded,  possibly  inaccurately, 
by  the  priests,  who  were  the  historians  of  the  time.  Immediately  fol- 
lowing the  arrival  of  these  toil-worn  explorers  at  the  City  of  Mexico, 
an  expedition  was  fitted  out  under  the  leadership  of  Marcos  de  Niza, 
a  Franciscan  monk,  and  sent  to  discover  and  report  upon  these  mys- 
terious cities  and  pave  the  way  for  Spanish  colonization.  Friar  Mar- 
cos, the  commander,  soon  became  discouraged  and  disheartened  by  the 
cruelty  practiced  upon  his  band  of  soldiers  by  the  natives,  who  slew 
many  of  them,  and  turned  back,  but  not  wanting  his  comrades  at 
home  to  think  him  the  coward  that  he  was,  he  instructed  his  soldiers, 
who  were  I'cady  for  any  scheme  that  would  end  their  marching,  to 
say  that  they  had  really  seen  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola  from  afar,  and 
tiiat  they  were  more  populous  and  far  more  wealthy  than  had  ever 
been  told.  These  tales  again  excited  Spanish  curiosity  and  cupidity 
and  at  once  a  larger  and  more  powerful  expedition  was  fitted  out  un- 
der the  command  of  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  Francisco  Vasquez  de 


EARLY    NEBRASKA.  17 

Coronado.      This  expedition   marks  the   time  when  Nebraska  was 
really  discovered  —  the  discovery  which  history  records. 

Jndge  Savage,  of  Omaha,  has  sj)ent  much  time  and  labor  in  col- 
lecting the  scattered  information  to  be  had  upon  this  early  discovery, 
and  from  his  account  many  of  the  facts  and  incidents  of  this  expedi- 
tion, and  also  his  conclusions  as  to  the  points  visited  by  Coronado 
and  other  explorers,  are  used.  According  to  the  authorities  upon  this 
subject,  Coronado's  expedition,  composed  of  three  hundred  Spaniards 
and  eight  hundred  natives,  set  out  from  the  City  of  Mexico  early  in 
the  spring  of  1540,  with  bright  anticipations  and  sanguine  hopes. 
These  were  somewhat  dampened  by  the  hardships  of  the  way,  for  the 
country  traversed  was  rough,  mountainous,  and  a  desert ;  and  now 
and  then,  notwithstanding  the  marvels  of  the  seven  cities  which  they 
expected  to  find  at  the  end  of  their  journey,  distrust  and  homesick- 
ness overmastered  their  curiosity,  and  they  longed  to  return  home.  It 
was  only  the  stern  resolution  of  their  commander  which  prevented 
the  expedition  being  a  failure  almost  at  the  very  start.  But  at  last, 
after  a  tedious  and  toilsome  march,  what  were  thought  to  be  the  seven 
cities  of  Cibola  were  reached,  and  here  the  disappointment  was  so 
great  that  a  mutiny  was  almost  successful.  And  the  soldiers  were 
really  not  to  blame,  for  the  highly-colored  tales  had  all  proved  false. 
The  seven  cities  were  seven  hamlets ;  the  houses  were  small ;  gold 
was  not  found;  the  minerals  were  of  little  value;  and  farms  there 
were  in  Mexico  far  better  and  richer  than  all  of  Cibola. 

But  the  fitting  out  of  the  expedition  had  cost  too  much  money  to 
thus  come  to  an  ignoble  end,  and  Coronado  began  to  inquire  if  there 
were  not  other  cities,  richer  and  more  populous,  which  it  would  be 
profitable  to  visit.  The  natives,  eager  to  get  rid  of  their  Spanish  vis- 
itors, answered  in  the  affirmative.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to 
the  eastward,  they  said,  was  a  rich,  peaceful,  and  populous  province, 
where  their  desire  for  wealth  and  ambition  for  power  might  be  grat- 
ified. Following  the  directions  given,  Coronado  led  his  little  army 
to  this  new  locality,  a  point  which  is  identified  to-day  by  its  natural 
characteristics  and  by  its  ruins,  as  being  the  country  which  is  now  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Territory  of  New  JNlexico,  and  not  far  south  of 
the  present  site  of  Santa  Fe.  Here  the  natives  gave  the  Spaniards  a 
cordial  and  sincere  welcome,  they  being  of  a  gentle  and  kindly  nature, 
in  return  for  which  the  Spaniards  treated  them  with  the  utmost  cru- 


18  HISTORV    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

eltv.  Having  been  instriu'ted  by  the  Spanish  viceroy  to  let  these 
})eoi>lo  (meaning  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  of  Cibola)  know  that 
there  was  "a  God  in  Heaven,"  Coronado  proceeded  to  instruct  the 
natives,  first  l)v  stealing  everything  they  had,  then  l)y  im])risoning 
the  chiefs  of  the  leading  tribes,  and  lastly,  by  burning  their  villages. 
Not  satisfied  with  these  outrages,  Coronado's  soldiers  made  inroads 
upon  the  families  of  their  entertainers,  debauching  their  Avives  and 
children.  Xotwitiistanding  these  acts  of  "Christian  charity,"  the 
natives  still  treated  the  Spanish  troopers  with  what  kindness  they 
could,  but  naturally  schemed  for  some  Avay  by  which  they  could  rid 
themselves  of  their  unwelcome  and  unbidden  guests,  in  which  they 
were  finally  successful. 

One  of  these  natives,  willing  to  sacrifice  his  life  for  the  salvation  ot 
the  rest,  and  Avith  a  self-sacrificing  spirit  wonderful  for  a  savage,  took 
upon  himself  the  task  of  carrying  the  scheme  agreed  u])on  into  oper- 
ation. Early  one  morning  he  suddenly  appeared  before  Coronado, 
with  nnich  mystery  in  his  movements,  and  great  pretended  hostility 
to  the  natives.  He  described  a  far-off  country  with  such  eloquence  of 
language  that  the  country  |)ictured  surpassed  all  previous  imaginings 
of  the  Spaniards.  The  man  came,  he  said,  from  a  land  far  to  the 
northeast,  where  there  Avas  a  river  seven  miles  in  Avidth.  "Within 
its  depths  Avere  huge  fishes  as  large  as  horses,  and  upon  its  broad  bosom 
floated  canoes  Avhich  carried  tAventy  oarsmen  on  a  side;  luige  vessels 
Avith  sails  Avhich  bore  upon  their  proAv  a  golden  eagle,  and  upon  the 
poop  a  sumptuous  dias,  Avhereon  their  lords  Avere  Avont  to  sit  beneath  a 
canopy  of  cloth  of  gold.  That  e\'ery  day  the  monarch  of  this  faA^ored 
region,  named  Tartarrax,  long  bearded,  gray  haired,  and  rich,  took 
his  noontide  sleep  in  a  garden  of  roses  under  a  huge  spreading  tree, 
to  tiie  branches  of  a'\  hich  were  suspended  innumerable  golden  bells, 
Avhich  sounded  in  ex»juisite  harmony  Avhen  shaken  l)y  the  Avind;  that 
tiiis  king  prayed  by  means  of  a  string  of  beads,  and  Avorshiped  a  cross 
of  gold  and  the  image  of  a  woman,  the  queen  of  Heaven ;  that  through- 
out the  land  the  commonest  utensils  Avere  of  Avrought  sih'er,  and  the 
boAvls,  i>lates,  and  porriugeris,  of  beaten  gold.  This  land  of  plenty,  he 
said,  Avas 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  QUIVER  A, 

And  thither  he  Avaitcd  to  conduct  his  friends  Avhenevcr  they  should  be 
])lcased  to  accompany  him." 


EARLY    NEBRASKA.  19 

The  tale  was  well  concocted,  and  told  with  consummate  skill.  The 
king  being  pictured  as  a  man  who  worshiped  after  the  fashion  of  the 
men  to  whom  the  tale  was  told,  naturally  made  them  more  ready  to 
believe,  and  the  stories  of  such  magnificent  wealth,  pictured  with  every 
appearance  of  honesty,  made  them  eager  to  conquer  the  land.  Coro- 
nado,  while  a  brave,  intrepid,  and  ambitious  man,  was  superstitious, 
and  had  a  Avonderful  belief  in  signs  and  omens.  In  his  youthful  days 
he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  Arabian  sage,  who,  after  long 
study  and  travel  in  the  East,  where  he  had  collected  the  knowledge 
and  skill  in  necromancy  supposed  to  be  native  there,  had  taken  up  his 
residence  in  the  city  of  Salamanca,  Coronado's  birthplace.  To  this 
sage  Coronado  intrusted  the  duty  of  looking  into  the  future  and  tell- 
ing him  what  was  in  store  for  him  in  the  years  to  come.  After  con- 
sulting his  sacred  parchments  and  communing  with  the  supernatural 
beings  who  had  imparted  to  him  their  wisdom,  the  necromancer  re- 
ceived Coronado,  and  gave  to  him  what  the  gods  said  was  in  store 
for  him.  The  mystic  forces  which  reveal  future  events  to  mortals  he 
said  foretold  that  the  then  young  Salamancan  student  should  one  day 
become  the  lord  of  a  great  and  distant  country ;  but  the  portents 
thence  forward  were  gloomy  and  sinister:  they  foretold  that  a  fall 
from  his  horse  would  end  his  life. 

This  made  a  strong  impression  on  Coronado's  mind,  which  grew  as 
the  years  passed,  and  as  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  prairie 
which  stretched  beyond  the  vision  of  the  eye  on  every  side,  surrounded 
by  only  a  handful  of  dissatisfied,  jealous,  restless  men,  and  listened  to 
the  marvelous  tale  of  the  Indian,  who  had  volunteered  to  guide  him 
to  the  fabled  realm  where  wealth  was  piled  mountain  high,  no  wonder 
that  the  fate  predicted  by  the  sage  of  Salamanca  came  to  his  remem- 
brance. The  first  prophecy  had  come  true  —  he  was  the  lord  of  a 
great  and  distant  land;  —  and  how  soon  would  the  second  one  prove 
true?  But  the  story  of  the  Indian  was  so  straightforward,  and  he 
stood  the  rude  cross-examination  of  the  Spaniards  so  well,  that  Coro- 
nado threw  his  fears  to  the  wind,  and  determined  to  make  this  last  at- 
tempt to  find  the  kingdom  of  Quivera  and  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola. 
So  on  the  5th  day  of  May,  1541,  Coronado  and  his  army  quitted  the 
valleys  which  they  had  terrorized  and  "Christianized"  so  thoroughly, 
crossed  the  Pecos  river  from  Santa  Fe,  and  soon  entered  ujjon  the 
treeless  prairies  of  what  is  now  Indian  Territory  and  the  State  of  Kan- 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

sas.  Across  mighty  plains  so  bare  and  treeless  that  the  adventnrers 
had  to  make  large  piles  of  bnffalo  chips  tognide  them  on  their  return, 
thev  made  their  way  for  800  miles  northeasterly,  to  the  banks  of  a 
considerable  river,  which  is  admitted  by  all  who  have  studied  the  route 
and  the  distance  traveled  to  have  been  the  Arkansas. 

At  this  point  of  the  march  a  soldier  named  Castaneda,  ignorant  and 
credulous,  but  j>ious,  became  the  historian,  and  he  records  the  story  of 
this  weary  march.  Its  weariness  may  be  imagined  by  thinking  of 
this  band  of  soldiers,  clad  in  the  heavy  armor  of  the  times,  plodding 
its  way  through  the  long  summer  days  over  the  burning  plains  of 
Kansas,  grim  and  silent,  each  one  counting  his  steps,  the  more  accu- 
rately to  compute  the  distance  passed.  And  the  picture  has  a  tinge  of 
sadness  hanging  over  it  —  a  pathetic  tint  coloring  both  the  foreground 
and  the  perspective. 

But  the  adventurous  knia;hts  seem  to  have  had  some  little  amuse- 
ment  to  beguile  the  weary  hours  —  their  regular  amusement  of  robbery. 
On  one  occasion  it  is  related  of  them  that  finding  a  village  with  an 
enormous  quantity  of  skins,  they  cleaned  it  out  so  thoroughly  and  ex- 
peditiously that  within  fifteen  minutes  there  was  not  a  skin  left.  The 
Indians  tried  to  save  their  precious  possessions  by  force  of  arms,  and 
the  entreating  tears  of  the  sc^uaws,  but  neither  availed. 

Coronado  at  first,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  suspicious  of  his 
guide,  but  had  conquered  his  fears  and  suspicions.  Now  again  these 
same  suspicions  became  aroused  in  Coronado's  mind,  and  they  quickly 
spread  among  his  troops.  It  was  noticed  that  when  they  met  with  the 
wandering  nomads  of  the  plains,  if  the  Turk,  as  they  called  the 
guide,  was  the  first  to  meet  and  converse  with  them,  they  confirmed  his 
stories,  and  pointed  to  the  eastward  as  the  true  course,  whereas  if  com- 
munication was  prevented,  the  tribes  knew  nothing  of  the  riches  and 
sj)lendor  of  the  land  of  (^uivcra,  and  insisted  that  the  country  lay  to 
the  north  instead  of  to  the  east. 

Coronado,  therefore,  seeing  that  the  guide  had  deceived  him,  and  that 
with  the  exception  of  the  meat  of  the  buffalo  provisions  were  grow- 
ing scarce,  called  a  council  of  war  to  consider  with  his  captains  and 
lieutenants  the  best  plans  to  adopt  for  the  future.  It  was  there  decided 
that  the  general,  with  thirty  of  his  bravest  and  best  mounted  men  and 
six  foot  soldiers,  should  proceed  northward  in  search  of  the  land  of 
(^uivera,  while  the  main  body  of  the  army  should  return  to  the  vicin- 


EARLY    NEBRASKA.  21 

ity  of  the  Pecos  river.  So,  with  the  Turk  securely  bound,  and  with 
guides  selected  from  the  Indian  tribes,  Coronado  recommenced  his 
march. 

Northward  from  the  Arkansas  river  for  many  weary  hours  the  lit- 
tle band  pursued  its  way  over  the  Kansas  j^lains.  July  had  come; 
the  days  were  long  and  hot,  and  the  nights  sultry.  But  dogged  per- 
severance and  good  horses  brought  them  at  last  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  Nebraska.  And  near  there,  along  the  Platte  river,  they 
again  found  the  long-sought  kingdom  of  Quivera,  with  Tartarrax  the 
hoary-headed  ruler  of  the  realm.  But  alas  for  their  expectations  ! 
Their  dreams  of  glory  and  conquest  had  a  most  rude  awakening. 
The  only  precious  metal  that  they  saw  was  a  copper  plate  hanging 
from  the  old  chief's  breast,  by  which  he  set  great  store,  and  which  he 
seemingly  regarded  as  a  god.  There  were  no  musical  bells,  no  golden 
eagle,  no  silver  dishes,  no  indications  of  a  religious  worship  —  the 
light  of  truth  had  dispelled  the  dreams  of  magnificence.  Coronado 
hung  his  guide,  but  the  guide  met  death  bravely,  and  with  his  last 
breath  declared  that  he  knew  of  no  gold,  of  no  cities,  of  no  realm  of 
magnificent  riches,  and  that  he  had  led  the  Spaniards  away  from  his 
people  that  they  might  be  free  from  persecution  and  spoliation.  In 
August,  Coronado,  after  erecting  a  cross  which  bore  the  inscription, 

"  Francisco  Yasquez  de  Coronado,  general  of  an  expedition,  reached 
this  place," 

set  his  face  southward  and  passed  out  of  the  land  of  Quivera ;  but 
Nebraska  had  been  discovered. 

THE  NEXT  EXPEDITION. 

For  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  years  the  great  plains  of  Ne- 
braska were  untrodden  by  the  feet  of  any  save  the  Indian  tribes  that 
for  centuries  had  roamed  from  the  jNIissouri  to  the  Rockies,  Their 
buffalo-skin  tents  formed  the  onl}'  cities,  and  the  battles  of  the  vari- 
ous tribes  the  only  excitement  on  the  prairies,  except  the  chase  of  the 
buffalo  and  deer,  and  the  festive  pranks  of  the  storm-king.  For  a 
century  and  nearly  a  quarter,  the  copper-colored  wild  man  of  the 
prairie  held  sway  undisputed  in  his  possession  of  the  land.  In  the 
year  1662  another  visit  was  made  to  Quivera,  which  has  been  recorded 
by  the  Spanish  historians,  and  is  the  second  visit  of  which  record  is 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LIXCOI>N. 

made,  the  latter  visit  and  the  points  reached  being  more  easily  deter- 
ininaljle  than  of  the  first  in  1541. 

The  second  civilized  man  to  set  his  foot  npon  the  soil  of  Nebraska 
whose  visit  has  been  recorded  in  authentic  history,  was  a  soldier,  a 
knight  of  Spain,  Don  Diego,  Count  of  Penalosa.  This  knight,  Avho 
belonged  to  that  period  marked  by  all  the  glitter,  romance  and  ad- 
venture which  throw  such  a  charm  over  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
eenturies,  \vas  not  a  Spaniard,  but  a  Creole;  that  is,  one  of  American 
birth  but  Spanish  descent.  He  was  born  at  Lima,  South  America, 
in  1624,  and  after  a  career  of  wonderful  vicissitudes,  finally  left  his 
native  continent  and  drifted  northward  to  Mexico.  Here  he  came 
into  high  favor  with  the  Viceroy  of  the  country,  who  made  him,  at 
the  age  of  thirty -six.  Governor  and  Captain-General  of  New  Mexico. 
This  was  a  most  responsible  position ;  but  once  settled  in  it,  Penalosa 
became  again  restive,  and  sought  to  perform  some  feat  which  would 
bring  him  everlasting  glory  and  renown.  Qiiivera  was  then  the  same 
goal  of  bright  prospects  that  it  had  been  to  Coronado,  and  to  that 
fabled  country  this  knight  resolved  to  force  his  way.  So  on  the  6tli 
of  March,  1662,  while  the  colonists  in  New  England  and  Virginia 
W'Cre  laying  the  foundations  of  an  empire  that  has  since  taken  in 
Qui  vera,  and  not  only  that  but  thousands  of  square  miles  beyond, 
this  Spanish  knight  set  out  from  Santa  Fe  to  explore  the  regions  to 
the  north  and  east,  to  accumulate  precious  stones  and  metals,  to  annex 
a  vast  territory  to  his  domains,  to  conquer  the  fabled  opulent  cities, 
and  to  win  for  himself  renown  and  added  power  and  infiuence  at  the 
Spanish  court. 

He  set  out  with  a  great  company  of  soldiers,  Indians,  and  retainers, 
two  score  of  baggage  wagons  carrying  his  trappings  and  provisions, 
and  six  cannon  with  which  to  batter  down  the  walls  of  the  cities  of 
Cil)ola  when  he  should  reach  them.  A  friar,  Nicholas  de  Freytas, 
was  the  historian  of  this  expedition,  and  gives  with  much  elaborate- 
ness and  detail  the  events  of  the  march  northward,  the  disappoint- 
ment, disaster,  and  return  of  Penalosa.  After  proceeding  for  several 
weeks  along  the  route  laid  out,  the  little  Spanish  army  found  itself 
confronted  by  a  mighty  river,  along  which  dwelt  an  Indian  nation 
who  were  called  the  Escanzaquas,  the  residence  of  this  nation  being 
near  the  fortieth  jiarallel  of  latitude.  This  nation  was  at  war  with 
the  Indians  of  (^uivera,  and  when   Penalosa  arrived  were  just  on  the 


EARLY    NEBRASKA.  23 

point  of  starting  northward  to  give  their  enemies  battle.  'Hhe  force 
of  the  Escauzaquas  numbered  about  3,000,  and  immediately  upon  his 
arrival  Penalosa  joined  this  force  and  accompanied  the  Indians  on 
their  journey.  For  a  day  this  army  marched  westwardly  along  the 
right  bank  of  a  mighty,  rushing  river,  until  it  made  a  bend  so  that 
its  current  came  from  the  north.  For  another  day  the  mai'ch  was 
continued  to  the  northward,  until  toward  evening  the  soldiers  per- 
ceived across  the  river,  now  flowing  eastward  again,  a  high  ridge 
whose  sides  Avere  covered  with  signal  fires,  which  showed  that  the  na- 
tives were  aware  of  their  approach.  Still  marching  forward,  follow- 
ing the  curves  of  the  river,  the  little  army  came  to  a  spot  where,  on 
the  opposite  side,  another  river,  flowing  from  the  ridge,  entered  the 
stream  previously  followed.  Here  was  found  a  very  populous  city  — 
one  of  the  cities  of  Qui  vera  —  of  vast  extent.  The  chiefs  of  Qui- 
vera  came  over  the  river  to  welcome  the  Spaniards,  and  showed  them 
every  mark  of  esteem  ;  but  on  that  same  night  the  Escauzaquas  crossed 
the  river,  burned  the  city,  and  put  thousands  of  the  Quiverans  to 
death.  The  next  day  the  Spaniards  spent  some  time  in  extinguish- 
ing the  flames,  admiring  the  vast  number  of  dwellings  and  the  great 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  in  hunting  for  the  fabled  wealth  of  Quivera. 
After  spending  some  time  in  this  search  and  finding  nothing,  Penalosa, 
on  the  11th  of  June,  1662,  turned  his  troops  southward  and  departed 
for  his  Mexican  home. 

To  what  points  these  expeditions  penetrated  has  been  the  subject  of 
much  contention  and  of  much  difference  of  opinion.  But  none  claim 
that  Coronado  failed  to  enter  this  State  some  distance,  and  none  dis- 
pute that  Penalosa  reached  the  Platte.  At  just  what  point  the  Platte 
was  touchet],  or  at  what  point  Nebraska  was  penetrated,  is  the  dis- 
pute. 

As  to  the  visit  of  Coronado :  The  most  generally  accepted  opinion, 
based  upon  the  desci'iption  of  the  country,  its  grasses,  animals,  and 
general  topography,  is  that  Coronado  entered  the  State  somewhere  be- 
tween Gage  county  on  the  east  and  Furnas  county  on  the  west,  probably 
east  of  the  present  location  of  Superior,  Nuckolls  county.  Author- 
ities differ  as  to  the  distance  and  direction  traveled  by  Coronado  ;  but 
the  opinion  of  Gen.  Simpson  and  of  Mr.  Gallatin  is  that  the  Republi- 
can river  was  crossed  and  the  march  taken  in  a  northeasterly  direction, 
and  that  the  northern  point  reached  was  somewhere  west  of  and  on 


24  HISTOIIV    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

nearly  the  ^iume  jxirallel  with  the  present  site  of  Lincoln.  The  Span- 
ish cavalier  evidently  did  nut  reach  the  salt  basin,  or  his  chronicler 
wonld  have  noted  the  jjccnliar  appearance  of  the  conntry,  and  the 
presence  of  the  salt.  Coronado  himself  states  that  his  expedition 
reached  beyond  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude,  but  how  much 
further  can  only  be  judged  by  the  description  of  the  country  trav- 
ersed, the  streams  crossed,  and  the  direction  of  the  line  of  march. 
The  recent  finding  of  Spanish  stirrups,  bridle-bits,  and  other  horse 
trappings  of  Moctrish  pattern,  near  the  Republican,  buried  deej)  in  the 
ground,  while  it  does  not  prove  that  so  early  a  visit  was  made  to  Ne- 
braska, does  indicate  that  the  S]>aniards,  hundreds  of  years  ago,  trav- 
ersed the  region  now  embraced  in  the  State,  and  left  traces  of  their 
presence. 

The  point  reached  by  Penalosa  has  not  so  much  to  do  with  the 
present  treatise;  but  without  entering  upon  any  discussion  of  the  reas- 
ons for  the  location,  it  seems  to  be  the  most  generally  accepted  theory 
that  Penalosa  reached  the  Platte  at  or  near  the  spot  now  occupied  by 
the  city  of  Columbus. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  land  of  (^uivera  was  located  by  these 
early  explorers  in  a  half  dozen  different  places,  each  spot  being  dis- 
carded on  fresh  reports  of  wealthy  regions  "just  l^eyond,"  and  the 
Quivera  of  tradition  never  was  discovered.  ]5ut  the  legends  spurred 
on  those  early  explorers  mile  after  mile,  league  after  league,  n^  "^'i- 
ward  from  their  southern  home,  until  they  had  crossed  the  line  that 
brought  them  within  the  confines  of  the  State  of  Nebraska.  The  realm 
of  Quivera  is  now  a  reality,  and  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola  are  legion. 
The  dreams  of  the  Spaniards  have  come  true,  and  in  this  land,  visited 
by  them  centuries  ago,  are  found  the  gold  and  silver,  the  populous 
cities,  the  magnificent  houses,  the  wealth  and  civilization,  of  the  fabled 
kingdom  of  Tartarrax. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  25 


CHAPTER  III. 

Nebraska  froji  Territorial  Times— The  First  Officers  under  the  Ter- 
ritorial Organization,  and  a  List  of  State  Officers  from  the 
Beginning  to  the  Present  Time  — The  Present  State  Officials. 

In  1673  the  domain  of  modern  Nebraska  was  claimed  by  Spain. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  great  Northwest  Territory,  then  but  dimly  known 
or  appreciated.  In  1683  La  Salle  claimed  this  region  in  the  name  of 
the  king  of  France.  In  1762  the  French  formally  relinquished  Lou- 
isiana to  Spain ;  but  it  was  receded  to  France  in  1800,  and  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  sold  it  to  the  United  States,  a  master  stroke  of  good  policy 
on  the  part  of  the  great  Frenchman,  and  an  act  which  alone  would 
serve  as  a  foundation  for  the  fame  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  The  sale 
was  ratified  by  the  United  States  October  31,  1803.  The  formal 
transfer  was  made  December  20, 1803.  On  the  26th  of  March,  1804, 
Congress  divided  the  territory  into  two  sections,  the  southern  por- 
tion being  named  "The  Territory  of  Orleans,"  and  the  northern, 
"  The  District  of  Louisiana."  Nebraska  was  included  in  the  District 
ru^  l^ouisiana,  as  was  the  domain  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi,  north 
of  Louisiana,  as  far  west  as  claimed  by  the  United  States,  including 
Minnesota.  This  magnificent  territory,  of  1,122,975  square  miles, 
was  organized  as  the  "Territory  of  Louisiana,"  under  an  act  of  Con- 
gress passed  March  3,  1805.  St.  Louis  was  made  the  capital,  and 
President  Jefferson  promptly  selected  General  James  Wilkinson  for 
Governor,  and  Frederick  Bates  for  Secretary.  These  two  officials, 
together  with  Judges  R.  J.  Meigs  and  John  B.  C.  Lucas,  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  were  given  legislative  control  of  the  great  Territory. 

Great  Britain  looked  with  resentful  eye  upon  the  success  of  the 
United  States  in  getting  possession  of  the  splendid  Louisiana  domain. 
She  had  expected  to  wrest  it  from  Napoleon,  but  by  a  swift  stroke  of 
diplomacy  he  placed  it  beyond  her  reach.  But  it  was  not  her  inten- 
tion to  give  up  the  great  advantages  offered  by  the  possession  of  at 
least  a  portion  of  Louisiana,  and  she  only  awaited  the  time  when  re- 
3 


26  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

lief  from  continental  war  should  enable  her  to  recover  the  lost  advan- 
tage. Thomas  Jeti'erson  knew  this,  and  with  masterly  decision  and 
genius  he  proceeded  to  do  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  seize  upon  the 
fullest  possible  interpretation  of  the  stipulations  with  Bonaparte. 
To  that  end  he  set  up  a  government  under  (jcueral  Wilkinson,  as  re- 
lated. He  at  once  organized  an  expedition  under  the  connuand  of 
Captains  ]\[i'rriweather  Lewis  and  ^^'illiam  Clarke,  known  as  the  Lewis 
and  Clarke  Expedition,  to  go  into  this  unexplored  region  by  way  of  the 
Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers,  in  order  to  claim  portions  of  the  terri- 
tory by  virtue  of  discovery,  to  estimate  its  resources,  and  find  a  short 
and  practicable  route  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  This  party  of  forty-three 
men  left  the  Mississippi  one  mile  below  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri 
river  on  Monday,  May  14, 1804.  On  the  21st  of  July  the  expedition 
camped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Platte  river,  and  the  next  day  stopped 
near  Bellevue.  On  the  2d  of  August,  a  council  with  chiefs  of  the 
Otoe  and  jSIissouri  Indians  of  the  Platte  country  was  held,  on  the  site 
of  Fort  Calhoun,  in  Washington  county. 

The  party  })roceeded  northward,  stopping  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Xiobrara  river,  on  Nebraska  soil  for  the  last  time  until  its  return,  in 
ISOG,  after  having  made  its  way  through  a  trackless  wilderness  for 
over  four  thousand  miles,  in  going  and  returning. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  upon  the  present  territory  of  Ne- 
braska was  made  by  the  American  Fur  Company,  at  Bellevue,  in  1810, 
under  the  leadership  of  Col.  Peter  A.  Sarpy,  a  shrewd,  bold,  and  en- 
terprising Frenchman,  In  1842  John  C.Fremont  made  a  path  across 
the  Territory,  up  the  Platte  valley,  and  in  1847  the  Mormons  widened 
the  trail  in  finding  their  way  to  the  "promised  laud."  About  1850 
the  great  rush  to  the  California  gold  fields  opened  the  great  highway 
across  Nebraska  never  to  l)e  discontinued,  and  exhibited  the  splendid 
])ossibilities  of  the  "Platte  country"  to  a  class  of  men  who  did  not 
fail  to  let  the  light  of  Nebraska's  great  natui-al  resources,  which  they 
had  seen,  shine  before  the  Eastern  States  in  after  years,  when  the  craze 
for  the  golden  West  had  subsided.  In  1847  the  Presbyterian  church 
established  a  mission  at  Bellevue.  In  1848  Fort  Kearney  was 
planted  by  the  Government,  on  the  present  site  of  Nebraska  City,  but 
was  afterward  removed  to  Kearney  county,  taking  the  name  of  Fort 
Childs,  but  later  the  name  of  Fort  Kearney. 

Congress  made  an  effort  to  organize  a  Territory  west  of  Iowa  and 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  27 

Missouri  in  1851-2,  which  failed,  owing  to  the  clash  of  party  zeal  for 
and  against  the  spread  of  slavery. 

In  1852-3  a  bill  Nvas  introduced  to  create  "Platte  Territory," com- 
prising all  of  the  present  domain  of  Kansas  and  all  of  Nebraska  south 
of  the  Platte  River.  This  bill  went  to  the  House  Committee  on  Ter- 
ritories, which  reported  a  bill  creating  the  same  domain  into  Nebraska 
Territory.  The  people  of  Iowa  were  an"xious  to  have  the  new  Terri- 
tory directly  west  of  their  border,  and  to  that  end  such  of  them  as 
were  interested  in  having  a  good  field  for  schemes  of  emigration,  sent 
Hadley  D.  Johnson,  of  Council  Bluifs,  to  Washington  to  induce  Con- 
gress to  readjust  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed  Territory.  Through 
his  zealous  activity  two  Territories  were  recommended  by  the  commit- 
tee instead  of  one,  in  the  famous  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  Avhich  devel- 
oped such  a  bitter  war  between  the  slavery  and  anti-slavery  parties, 
in  Congress  and  out. 

Finally,  Nebraska  was  organized  as  a  Territory  on  May  30,  1854, 
with  an  area  of  351,558  square  miles.  It  reached  from  the  40th  par- 
allel of  north  latitude  to  the  present  boundary  of  the  British  posses- 
sions, and  from  the  Missouri  river  westward  to  the  summit  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  On  February  28,  1861, 16,035  square  miles  were 
cut  off  to  be  attached  to  Colorado,  and  on  March  2,  1861,  228,907 
square  miles  were  set  apart  for  Dakota.  Finally,  on  March  3,  1863, 
another  slice  was  taken  off  to  form  Idaho  Territory.  This  was  the 
final  change  in  the  area  of  Nebraska  Territory,  and  consisted  of  45,- 
999  square  miles. 

President  Franklin  Pierce  appointed  as  officers  for  the  new  Terri- 
toiy,  the  following :  For  Governor,  Francis  Burt,  of  South  Carolina ; 
for  Secretary,  Thomas  B.  Cuming,  of  Iowa;  for  Chief  Justice,  Fen- 
ner  Furguson,  of  Michigan ;  and  for  Associate  Justices,  James  Bradley, 
(»f  Indiana,  and  Edward  R.  Harden,  of  Georgia;  for  Marshal,  Mark 
"W.  Izard,  of  Arkansas;  and  for  Attorney,  Experience  Estabrook,  of 
Wisconsin. 

Governor  Burt  reached  Bellevue,  the  Territorial  capital,  October  7, 
1854.  He  took  the  oath  of  office  on  October  16th,  and  died  there 
October  18,  1854.     Secretary  Cuming  became  the  acting  Governor. 

The  Territory  was  divided  into  the  eight  counties  of  Burt,  Wash- 
ington, Dodge,  Douglas,  Cass,  Pierce,  Forney,  and  Richardson.  One 
or  more  voting  precincts  were  established  in  each  of  these  counties. 


28  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LIN'COLX. 

An  enumeration  of  the  Territorial  inhabitants  was  made  in  Octo- 
ber, 1854,  for  Leoislative  representation.  According  to  this,  each 
county  was  entitled  to  one  Councilman,  except  Douglas,  whicli  Mas 
entitled  to  four,  and  Pierce,  which  had  three.  Burt,  AVashington, 
Dodge,  Forney,  and  liichardson,  each  had  two  Representatives.  Doug- 
las liad  eight,  Cass  three,  and  Pierce  five.  The  first  general  election 
took  place  on  December  12,  1854,  and  the  first  Legislature  met  at 
Omaha,  whence  the  capital  had  been  removed,  on  January  16,  1855. 
This  pioneer  body  was  composed  of  the  following-named  gentlemen : 

THE    FIRST   COUNCIL. 

RiCHAKDSON  County  —  J.  L.  Sharp,  President. 

Burt  County — B.  R.  Folsom. 

Washington  County — J.  C.  Mitchell, 

Dodge  County— M.  H.Clark. 

Douglas  County — T.  G.  Goodwill,  A.  D.  Jones,  O.  D.  Richard- 
son, S.  E.  Rogers. 

Cass  County — Luke  Nuckolls. 

Pierce  County — A.  H.  Bradford,  H.  P.  Bennett,  C.  H.  Cowles. 

Forney  County — Richard  Brown. 

Officers  of  the  Council — Dr.  G.  L.  Miller,  of  Omaha,  Chief 
Clerk;  O.  F.  Lake,  of  Brownville,  Assistant  Clerk;  S.  A.  Lewis,  of 
Omaha,  Sergeant-nt-Arms ;  N.  R.  Folsom,  Tekamah,  Doorkeeper. 

HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 

Douglas  County — A.  J.  Hanscom,  Speaker;  \\  .  X.  Byers,  Wil- 
liam Clancy,  F.  Davidson,  Thomas  Davis,  A.  D.  Goyer,  A.  J.  Pop- 
plct(jn,  and  Robert  A\'iiitted. 

JjUi;t  County — J.  B.  Robertson,  A.  C.  Purple. 

WAsiiixGTf)N  County — A.  Archer,  A.  J.  Smith. 

Dodge  County — E.  R.  Doyle,  J.  W.  Richardson. 

Cass  County — J.  M.  Latham,  William  Kempton,  J.  D.  H. 
Thompson. 

Pierce  County — G.  Jiennct,  J.  H.  Cowles,  J.  H,  Decker,  \\ .  H. 
Hail,  and  William  Maddox. 

Forney  County — W.  A.  Finney,  J.  M.  Wood. 

Rif  iiARDsoN  County — J).  ]\I.  Johnston,  J.  A.  Singleton. 

Offk  j:i{s  (.f  the  House — f.  W.  Paddock,  Chief  Clerk;  G.  L. 


NEBEASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  29 

Eayre,  Assistant  Clerk ;  J.  L.  Gibbs,  Sergeant-at-Arms ;  B.  B.  Thomp- 
son, ^  jorkeeper. 

Xapoleon  B.  Gidding  was  elected  delegate  to  Congress  at  the  same 
election  that  the  Legislature  was  chosen. 

The  several  counties  were  divided  into  three  Judicial  Districts. 

A  capitol  building  was  completed  in  Omaha  in  January,  1858. 

Mark  W.  Izard  was  appointed  Governor  in  February,  1855,  and 
William  A.  Richardson  in  April,  1857,  who  resigned  in  1858.  J. 
Sterling  Morton  Avas  then  Secretary,  and  became  the  acting  Governor 
until  the  appointment  of  Samuel  Black,  in  1859.  He  closed  the  line 
of  Democratic  Governors  for  Nebraska,  and  was  succeeded  by  Alvin 
Saunders,  of  INIt.  Pleasant,  Iowa,  who  was  appointed  by  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  1861.  Governor  Saunders  was  succeeded  by  David  But- 
ler, in  1867,  when  Nebraska  became  a  State. 

The  question  of  organizing  a  State  government  was  voted  on  in 
March,  1860,  and  the  people  rejected  the  proposition  to  erect  a  State, 
by  a  vote  of  1,987  to  1,877.  Congress  passed  the  enabling  act  in 
1864  for  the  admission  of  Nebraska.  The  Territorial  Legislature 
framed  a  constitution  in  1866,  which  was  ratified  at  an  election  held 
on  June  21st  of  the  same  year.  Congress  passed  an  admission  act  July 
28th,  Avhich  was  vetoed  by  Andrew  Johnson,  who  vetoed  a  similar  1)111 
in  January,  18(]7;  but  it  Avas  passed  over  his  veto  on  February  8th  and 
9th.  There  was  one  condition  to  this  act :  Nebraska  must  assent  to  "  no 
denial  of  the  elective  franchise,  or  any  other  right,  to  any  person  by 
reason  of  race  or  color."  The  Legislature  promptly  ratified  this  con- 
dition, on  February  20th,  and  President  Johnson  proclaimed  this  com- 
pliance on  March  1,  1867. 

As  soon  as  the  State  was  admitted,  the  Legislature  decided  to  remove 
the  capital  from  Omaha,  Avhich  Avas  accomplished  by  commissioners,  in 
October,  1867.  A  small  hamlet  named  Lancaster,  in  Lancaster  county, 
was  chosen  by  the  commissioners  and  approved  by  the  Legislature. 
The  ucAV  capital  AAas  named  Lincoln,  after  Abraham  Lincoln. 

NEBEASKA  AS  A  STATE. 

David  Butler  had  been  elected  GoA'crnor  of  the  proposed  ucav  State 
in  1866,  and  uoav  entered  upon  his  duties  as  the  first  GoA'crnor  of  the 
State.  He  Avas  reelected  October  8,  1868,  and  October  13,  1870,  but 
Avas  impeached  and  removed  from  office  on  June,  2,  1871,  and  Secre- 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

iTtarv  William  H.  James  acted  as  Governor  until  after  the  regular  elec- 
tion of  1872.  Robert  \\\  Furnas  ^vas  then  elected  Governor,  and 
installed  on  January  lo,  1873.  He  was  succeeded  in  1875  by  Silas 
Garber,  who  was  re-elected,  and  served  until  January  9,  1879,  Avhen 
Albinus  Nance  was  inducted  into  the  office,  and  held  it  until  January 
4,  1883.  James  AV.  Dawes  was  the  State's  Chief  Executive  thence 
until  succeeded  by  John  M.  Thayer,  January  (3,  1887,  who  is  now  serv- 
ing his  second  term.  Gov.  Thayer  is  one  of  Nebraska's  citizens 
most  distinguished  for  long  and  honorable  service.  He  was  born  in 
Bellingham,  Massachusetts,  and  is  the  son  of  Elias  and  Ruth  (Staples) 
Thayer.  He  graduated  from  Brown  University,  in  1847,  having 
studied  law.  He  removed  to  Nebraska  in  1854,  and  settled  at  Omaha, 
near  where  he  farmed  for  several  years.  He  entered  politics  in  1855, 
becoming  a  candidate  for  Congress,  but  vras  beaten  by  Fenner  Fer- 
guson, perhaps  the  most  successful  politician  of  Territorial  times  in 
Nebraska.  He  was  defeated  for  the  same  (^)ffice  in  1860  by  Samuel 
G.  Daily,  but  was  elected  to  the  Territorial  Legislature  in  1860,  and 
served  during  the  term  of  1860-1. 

In  1855  he  was  elected  Brigadier-General  of  the  Territorial  militia 
by  the  Legislature,  and  that  year  led  a  company  of  150  men  against 
the  troublesome  Pawnee  Indians,  and  again  in  1859  led  194  men,  with 
a  piece  of  artillery,  against  the  same  Indians,  capturing  an  entire  camp. 
He  was  also  emjJoyed  in  peace  negotiations  with  the  Indians.  This 
gave  him  <piite  a  military  experience. 

In  1861  he  was  instrumental  in  raising  and  organizing  the  First 
Regiment  of  Nebraska  Volunteer  Inflmtry,  of  which  he  was  com- 
missioned Colonel.  After  seeing  some  service  in  Missouri,  he  was 
sent  with  a  brigade  to  help  Gen.  Grant  at  Fort  Donelson,  command- 
ing the  Second  Brigade  of  Wallace's  Division  in  that  Ijattle,  and  also 
at  the  battle  of  Shik)h.  For  able  and  gallant  conduct  in  these  two 
mem(»rable  acticms  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General. 
At  the  time  Sherman  stormed  Chickasaw  bayou,  in  his  attempt  to 
approach  Vicksburg  from  the  north,  (Jeneral  Thayer  led  one  of  the 
most  important  of  the  storming  columns,  having  a  horse  shot  under 
him.  He  i)arti(ipated  in  the  Vicksburg  Campaign,  helped  Sherman 
to  captin-c  .Jackson,  and  then  assisted  to  reduce  Pemberton  at  A'icks- 
burg.  Here  he  was  appointed  Major-General  of  Volunteers  for  gal- 
lant  conduct.      Subsequently  he  was   engaged    in  a  campaign   with 


GOV.    JOHN    M.    THAYER. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  31 

General  Steele  in  Arkansas,  and  near  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  Array  of  the  Frontier,  to  subdue  the  In- 
dians, Avho  had  been  terrorizing  the  West  with  their  barbarities. 

He  was  elected  United  States  Senator  for  Nebraska  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1866,  when  it  was  thought  the  Territory  wt>uld  be  at  once  ad- 
mitted as  a  State;  but  it  not  being  admitted  until  the  following  year, 
he  did  not  take  his  seat  until  March,  1867.  He  drew  the  four-year 
term,  and  Thomas  W.  Tipton  the  six-year  term.  In  1875  he  was 
appointed  Territorial  Governor  of  Wyoming,  and  served  one  term. 

In  1886  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Nebraska  by  about  25,000 
majority,  and  was  reelected  in  1888,  making  about  thirty-four  years 
since  he  began  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  public  service  of  the 
Territory  of  Nebraska.  He  is  the  most  distinguished  military  man 
of  this  State,  and  is  Nebraska's  oldest  living  United  States  Senator. 
His  military  service  alone  has  given  him  a  national  reputation. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  T.  Allen,  a  lady  of  ability  and  re- 
finement, who  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Allen,  a  minister 
of  the  Baptist  church  in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  John  M.  Thayer  jr.  is 
the  Governor's  private  secretary. 

The  growth  of  Nebraska  has  been  steady  and  rapid,  as  the  develop- 
ment of  population  will  indicate.  In  1855  the  census  returns  gave 
the  Territory  a  population  of  4,494.  In  1856  the  inhabitants  were  set 
down  at  10,716.  In  1860  the  number  had  grown  to  28,841.  By 
1870  there  were  122,993.  Ih  1875  the  population  had  advanced  to 
246,280,  and  by  the  census  of  1880,  Nebraska  had  452,542  people. 
In  1885  the  enumeration  showed  an  aggregate  of  740,645,  and  the 
election  returns  of  1888  indicated  a  population  of  about  1,200,000. 
In  other  words,  the  increase  from  1870  to  1880  was  nearly  300  per 
centum,  and  that  from  1880  to  1890  will  approximate  close  to  200 
per  centum.  By  the  year  1900,  Nebraska  will  doubtless  have  quite 
2,000,000  population,  and  her  wealth  will  have  increased  accordingly. 

In  fact,  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  State  has  fully  kept 
pace  with  the  growth  of  population,  and  in  some  features  has  outrun 
the  rate  of  settlement. 

In  1871  a  constitutional  convention  assembled  at  the  capitol,  on 
June  5th,  and  adjourned  August  19th.  The  people  refused  to  adopt 
the  constitution  framed,  on  the  19th  of  the  following  September.     In 


32  HISTOEV    OF    THE    CITY    OF    I.I>XOLN. 

the  summer  of  1875,  a  second  cunventiun  framed  another  constitution, 
which  was  adopted  by  the  people  at  the  October  election  following. 
This  constitution  provided  that  there  should  be  eighty-four  Represen- 
tatives and  thirty  Senators,  until  1880,  when  the  number  should  be 
regulated  by  law ;  but  the  Senate  should  not  exceed  thirty-tliree  and 
the  House  should  not  exceed  one  hundred.  The  first  Legislature  under 
this  constitution  assembled  on  the  first  ^Monday  in  January,  1877. 
John  M.  Thayer  and  Thomas  W.  Tipton  were  cliosen  United  States 
Senators  in  1867,  the  former  to  serve  until  1871,  and  the  latter  until 
1875.  The  roster  of  United  States  Senators  elected  since  the  State 
was  admitted  is  as  follows : 

UNITED  STATES   SEXATOES. 


Jobu  M.  Thayer,  18G7-71.  I    C.  H.  Van  Wyck,  1881-&7. 

Thomas  W.  Tiptou,  1867-75.  |    Charles  F.  Manderson.  1883-89. 

Phineas  W.  Hitchcock,  1871-77. 
Algernon  S.  Paddock,  1875-81. 
Alvin  Saunders,  1877-83. 


Algernon  S.  Paddock,  1887-93. 
Charles  F.  Manderson,  1889-95. 


TEKPaTOEIAL    DELEGATES   IN   CONGEES.S. 

Napoleon  B.  Gidding,  December  12, 1854.  [    Experience  Estabrook,  October  11, 1859. 
Bird  B.  Chapman,  November  6,  1855.         Samuel  G.  Dailey,  October  9,  1860. 
Fenner  Ferguson,  August  3,  1857.  !    Phineas  W.  Hitchcock,  October  11, 1864. 

NEBRASKA   STATE   REPRESENTATIVES   IN   CONGRESS. 

T.  M.  Marquett,  1865-67;  the  39th  Con-  ]  Frank  Welch,  1877.     Died  in  office. 

gress.  I  Thomas  J.  :Majors,  1878-9.     To  till  va- 

John  Tafte,  1867-69;  the  40th  Congress.  I  'cancy. 

John  Taffe,  1869-71;  the  41st  Congress.  E.    K.   Valentine,    1879-81;    the    Uith 
John  Tafle,  1871-73;  the  42d    Congress.  Congress. 

Lorenzo    Crounse,    1873-75;    the   43rd  E.    K.    Valentine,    1881-83;    the    47th 

Congress.  Congress. 

Lorenzo    Crounse,    1875-77;    the    44th 

Congress. 

For  the  48th  Congres,  1883-85,  there  were  elected: 
A.  J.  Weaver,  for  the  First  District.  E.  K.  Valentine,  for  the  Third  District. 

James  Laird,  for  the  Second  District. 

For  the  49th  Congress,  188.5-87,  there  were  elected: 
A.  J.  Weaver,  for  the  First  District.  ]    George  W.  E.  Dorsey,  for  the  Third  Dis- 

James  Laird,  for  the  Second  District.  trict. 

For  the  50th  Congress,  1887-89,  there  were  elected  ; 
John  A.  McShane,  for  the  first  District.  I    George  W.  E.  Dorsey,  for  the  Third  Dis- 
.James  Laird,  for  the  Second  District.       I  trict. 


NEBRASKA    FEOM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  33 

For  the  51st  Congress,  1869-91,  there  were  elected: 
W.  J.  Connell,  for  the  First  District.  George  W.  E.  Dorsey,  for  the  Third  Dis- 

James  Laird,  for  the  Second  District.       ;  trict 

Nebraska  is  in  the  eighth  United  States  Court  Circuit,  composed 
of  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Arkansas,  and 
Colorado.  The  court  officers  for  both  the  United  States  District  and 
Circuit  Courts  are  as  subjoined  : 

David  J.  Brewer,  Circuit  Judge.  i    Brad  D.  Slaughter,  Marshal. 

Elmer  S.  Dundy,  District  Judge.  Elmer  D.  Frank,  Clerk  Circuit  Court. 

George  E.  Pritchell,  District  Attorney.        Elmer  S.  Dundy  jr.,  Clerk  Dist.  Court. 

Hon.  Brad  D.  Slaughter,  who  is  now  the  United  States  Marshal 
for  the  District  of  Nebraska,  was  commissioned  on  the  19th  of  March, 
1889.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  public  men  of  this  State,  and  his 
administrative  ability  in  a  position  of  this  kind  is  hardly  excelled  by 
any  man  in  the  State. 

His  father  was  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Slaughter,  D.  D.,  and  his  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  E.  Buck,  both  ministers  being  members  of 
the  Geneseo  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  of  New  York. 

Brad  D.  Slaughter  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  New  York,  on  No- 
vember 12,  1844.  His  father  removed  to  Chicago,  where  Master 
Brad  was  educated  in  the  city  public  schools,  and  where  he  learned 
the  printers'  trade  and  graduated  as  a  newspaper  correspondent.  For 
this  reason  he  is  always  most  accommodating  to  correspondents,  as 
any  newspaper  man  knows  who  has  reported  the  House  during  recent 
Legislative  sessions. 

He  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  with  his  father,  who  was  captain  of 
Company  G,  39th  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  which  rendezvou.sed 
at  Chicago.  Afterward  he  enlisted  in  Company  K,  of  the  67th  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry,  and  gave  faithful  .service  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union  throughout  the  war. 

At  the  close  of  the  great  conflict  he  removed  to  Nebraska  City, 
where  he  married  in  1866.  He  made  his  residence  in  Omaha  for  a 
time,  and  later  removed  to  Lincoln,  where  he  lived  until  1879.  At 
the  close  of  the  Legislative  session  of  that  year  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  FuUerton,  Nance  county,  which  county  he  had  been  instru- 
mental in  bringing  into  existence. 

He  was  first  elected  Chief  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  Nebraska  Legislature  in  1877,  and  he  has  held  this  position  at 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOIA*. 

every  succeeding  term  except  that  of  iNSo.  In  thi?-  oltice  he  distin- 
guished himself  for  the  exceedingly  able  and  thorough  management 
he  save  to  its  intricate  affairs.  He  was  also  recoanized  as  a  very  skill- 
ful  ])arliamentarian,  and  many  a  time  he  has  rescued  the  House  and 
Speaker  from  a  complication  in  the  proceedings,  the  run  of  which  he 
never  seemed  to  lose.  The  House  of  the  Twenty-first  Legislature 
presented  him  with  a  beautiful  silver  tea  service,  as  a  token  of  the 
esteem  of  the  members  for  his  careful  work  as  recording  officer  and 
the  general  esteem  that  body  entertained  for  him  personally.  He  is 
not  a  man  of  many  words,  and  accepted  the  gift  in  a  l)rief  and  perti- 
nent speech,  in  which  he  used  a  sentence  substantially  like  the  follow- 
ing: ''In  all  duties  I  have  been  called  upon  to  attend  to,  I  have  made 
it  a  rule  to  do  the  work  just  exactly  as  near  right  as  I  knew  how." 
This  sentence  contains  the  explanation  of  his  success  and  that  of  all 
men  who  sustain  themselves  in  responsible  positions. 

In  1880  he  was  appointed  Supervisor  of  the  United  States  census, 
his  district  including  the  entire  South  Platte  section  of  Nebraska.  It 
fell  to  his  province  to  appoint,  supply,  instruct,  and  obtain  reports 
from  363  enumerators,  but  his  management  of  this  responsible  and 
difticult  office  was  as  prudent  and  efficient  as  could  be  possil)le  under 
the  circumstances.  Few  supervisors  performed  better  service,  and  of 
the  sixty-one  United  States  Marshals  in  the  United  States  it  may 
safely  be  doubted  whether  one  will  prove  more  faithful,  able  and  suc- 
cessful than  jNIarshal  Brad  D.  Slaughter,  of  Nebraska. 

Nebraska  as  a  Territory  and  a  State  has  had  eleven  Governors  and 
four  acting;  Governors.     The  Territorial  Governors  were  as  folloM'S : 


Samuel  W.  Black,  May  2, 1858. 
Alvin  Saunders,  May  15,  18(il. 


Francis  Burt,'  October  16,  1854. 
Mark  W.  Izard,  February  20,  1855. 
W.  A.  Richardson,'^  January  12,1858. 

The  State  Governors  have  been  six  in  number,  as  follows : 

David  Butler,-'  Februarj'  21,  1867.  Albinus  Nance,  January,  9,  1879. 

Robert  W.  Furuas,  January  13, 1873.  James  "W.  Dawes,  January  4,  1883. 

Silas  Garber,  January  11,  1875.  j    John  M.  Thayer,  January  6, 1887. 

1  Died  in  oflice,  October  18,  1854;  office  filled  by  Secretary  Thomas  B.  Cuming  until  ap- 
pointment of  Governor  Izard. 

2  Resigned,  the  office  being  filled  by  Secretary  J.  Sterling  Morton  until  arrival  of  Gover- 
nor Blacli. 

•'Elected  in  186fi,  but  did  not  become  Governor  until  February  21.  1867.  o\ving  to  tlie  delay 
in  admitting  Nebraska  into  the  Union.  Secretary  W.  H.  James  acted  as  Goveruor  Irom  June  2, 
1871,  until  installation  of  Governor  Furnas,  January  13, 1873. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  35 

Nebraska  has  had  but  five  Lieutenant-Governors  since  she  became 
a  State,  as  follows  : 

Othman  A.  Abbott,  1877-79.  I    H.  H.  Shedd,  1885-89. 

Edmund  C.  Cains,  1879-83.  Geo.  D.  Meiklejohn,  1889-91. 

A.  W.  Agee,  1883-85. 

The   Territorial   Secretaries  were  four  in  number,  three  of  whom, 
Cuming,  Morton,  and  Paddock,  became  acting  Governors,   They  were : 

Thomas  B.  Cuming,'  August  13, 1854.       I    J.  Sterling  Morton,'  July  12,  1858. 
John  B.  Motle3%-^  March  23,  1858.  |    Alg.  S.  Paddock,^  May  6,  1861. 

The  Secretaries,  since  Nebraska  became  a  State,  have  been  as  noted 
in  the  subjoined  list: 


S.  J.  Alexander,  January  9,  1879. 
Edward  P.  Roggeu,  January  4,  1883. 
Gilbert  L.  Laws,  January  6,  1887. 


Thomas  P.  Kennard,  February  21, 1867. 
Wm.  H.  James,*^  January  10,  1871. 
John  J.  Gosper,  January  13,  1873. 
Bruno  Tzschuck,  January  11,  1875. 

Gilbert  L.  Laws,  now  Secretary  of  State  for  Nebraska,  was  the 
sixth  of  a  family  of  eleven  children,  and  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Kichland  county,  Illinois,  March  11,  1838. 

His  father,  James  Laws,  was  born  near  Wilmington,  North  Caro- 
lina, in  1801,  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage,  his  father  being  a  Scotch- 
man and  his  mother  an  Irish  woman.  He  removed  with  his  parents 
to  Southern  Illinois,  and  in  time,  by  industry  and  economy,  became 
a  large  farmer  and  stock  raiser,  supplying  in  part  the  Indian  Agency 
at  Chicago  with  beef  cattle.  The  corn  from  his  own  and  neighbor- 
ing farms  was  by  him  shipped  in  flat-boats  down  the  Wabash  and  so 
on  to  New  Orleans  for  a  market.  Opening  farms  and  planting  or- 
chards, building  houses  and  bridges,  constructing  roads  and  operating- 
mills,  taxed  not  only  his  own  energies,  but  kept  at  work  a  number  of 
men  settled  about  him,  who  were  constantly  in  his  employ. 

In  religious  faith  he  was  a  Campbellite,  uniting  with  that  church 
in  early  manhood. 

Politically,  he  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  a  great  admirer  of  Henry 
Clay,  becoming  in  later  years  a  radical  Republican,  and  so  intolerant 

iWas  Acting  Governor  from  October  18,  1854,  to  February  20,  1855,  and  from  October  25, 
1875,  to  January  12,  1858.    Died  March  12, 1858. 

-  Acting  Secretary  until  the  arrival  of  J.  Sterling  Mortou. 

'■'  Acting  Governor  from  December  5,  1858,  to  May  2. 1859,  and  from  February  24, 1860,  to  1861. 

■*  Acting  Goveinor  from  May,  1861,  and  so  continued  during  most  of  the  term  of  Gov. 
Saunders,  or  until  1867. 

5  Was  Acting  Governor  from  June  2,  1871,  to  January  13,  1873. 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

in  his  views  during-  the  war  that  he  regarded  every  Democrat  as  a  pub- 
lic enemy,  and  would  not  exchange  the  common  courtesies  of  neigh- 
bors with  any  member  of  that  party. 

The  mother  of  G.  L.  Laws  was  Lucinda  Calhoun,  a  second  cousin 
to  the  statesman  of  that  name.  She  was  born  in  Abbeyville,  South 
Carolina,  in  1806.  She,  too,  was  a  Campbellite,  and  her  whole  life 
was  sacredly  dedicated  to  the  discharge  of  motherly  cares  and  Chris- 
tian duties. 

G.  L.  Laws  spent  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Richland  county,  attending  school  a  few  weeks  in  winter 
when  old  enough,  dropping  corn  and  helping  "shear  sheep"  in  the 
spring,  carrying  water  and  other  drinks  to  "the  hands"  in  summer, 
and  "shucking  the  down  row"  in  the  fall.  In  school  he  became 
somewhat  noted  as  a  speller,  and  was  a  fair  reader,  these  being  the 
only  branches  taught  boys  under  ten  years  of  age  in  those  days  in 
that  country. 

In  1845  the  family  removed  to  Iowa  county,  Wisconsin,  bought  a 
tract  of  land,  and  opened  a  farm.  Here  were  no  schools,  and  over 
five  years  elapsed  before  an  opportunity  offered  to  attend  school  again. 
In  1847  he  worked  a  lead  mine  on  the  halves.  In  1850  his  father 
traded  his  farm  for  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Wisconsin  river,  where  he 
opened  a  ferry,  now  known  as  "  Laws's  Ferry,"  and  where  he  kept  a 
lumber  yard,  the  subject  of  this  tale  being  obliged  to  make  himself 
usefid  as  ferryman  and  salesman  in  the  yard. 

In  the  winter  of  1851  and  1852  he  chopped  cord  MOod  and  split 
rails.  Here,  in  the  summer  of  1853,  he  crossed  the  river  and  walked 
three  miles  morning  and  evening  to  attend  a  district  school.  In  the 
winter  of  1854  he  "did  chores  for  his  board"  and  attended  the  same 
school.  In  June,  1855,  he  left  home  without  consulting  the  family, 
for  the  sole  purj)Ose  of  making  it  possil)le  to  attend  l)etter  schools  for 
a  longer  term  each  year.  During  June  and  July  he  })ut  in  a  number 
of  weeks  of  very  iiard  work  for  a  good  deacon  of  a  church,  for  which 
he  received  no  ])ay,  and  this  fact  may  have  affecteil  his  whole  religious 
life. 

During  the  years  1856  and  1857  he  worked  a  short  time  on  a  farm, 
rafted  railroad  ties,  hel]ied  build  the  Illinois  Central  with  barrow  and 
spade,  "rolled  sugar"  on  a  steam-boat,  cooked  for  a  crew  of  men  in 
a  logging  camp,  chopped  saw-logs,  drove  saw-logs,  and  run  a  saw- 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL   TIMES.  37 

mill,  rafted  and  run  lumber,  landing  in  8t,  Louis  in  August  of  1857, 
with  a  large  "fleet"  of  lumber,  which  he  could  not  sell,  and  was 
obliged  to  start  a  lumber  yard  in  that  city,  which  he  did  on  Ninth 
street  and  Cass  avenue.  His  experience  as  a  ferryman,  with  some- 
thing of  an  aptitude  for  such  work,  made  him  an  expert  riverman, 
and  brought  him  from  $.3.00  to  $10.00  per  day  during  spring  and 
summer  months,  rafting  lumber  down  the  Wisconsin  river  to  Missis- 
sippi towns.  After  the  first  winter,  during  which  he  was  a  cook, 
studying  meantime,  and  receiving  much  valuable  assistance  from  the 
'4)oss,"  who  was  a  graduate  of  Yale,  he  attended  school  winters  and 
such  parts  of  fall  and  spring  terms  as  he  could  until  twenty  years 
old,  when,  after  paying  yearly  some  small  debts  for  those  in  a  meas- 
ure dependent  upon  him,  he  found  himself  the  possessor  of  §300.00 
in  cash.  This  fund  enabled  him  to  quit  the  more  lucrative  but  less 
desirable  lines  of  labor,  and  turn  his  attention  to  teaching  school,  re- 
versing the  order  of  former  years,  now  working  winters  and  attend- 
ing school  summers.  He  enjoyed,  for  longer  and  shorter  terms,  the 
advantages  afforded  by  Hascall  University,  at  Mazo  Manie;  atSilsby 
Academy,  at  Richland  City ;  and  at  Milton  College,  all  in  Wisconsin ; 
but,  except  the  latter,  all  very  poor  and  without  libraries  or  appara- 
tus. At  one  of  the  academies  he  finished  a  course  in  trigonometry 
and  surveying  where  the  only  instrument  for  use  was  an  old  survey- 
or's compass  with  a  broken  needle.  The  teachers  were  all  educated 
gentlemen,  and  some  of  them  able  men,  earnest,  honest,  and  patriotic 
in  their  efforts  to  establish  ''seats  of  learning"  in  the  West. 

The  winter  of  1860-61  he  was  employed  as  principal  of  the  schools 
at  Richland  Center,  where  he  was  accredited  a  very  successful  teacher. 

This  was  at  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War.  "  Men  and  steel "  were 
wanted  for  national  defense.  In  March,  1861,  Mr.  Laws  signed  his 
name  to  a  paper,  pledging  his  services  provided  the  company  was 
called  into  service  before  he  became  located  in  the  University  at 
Madison,  Wisconsin,  where  he  had  arranged  to  complete  his  educa- 
tion. His  school  closed  on  Friday,  the  2d  of  May,  and  the  next 
morning  a  dispatch  was  received  calling  the  company  into  service. 

On  such  little  threads  of  time  and  circumstance  hang  the  destinies 
of  men  ! 

Mr.  Laws  went  to  the  front  with  his  company  as  its  Fourth  Ser- 
geant, and  with  a  military    life    comprising    the    usual    routine,  he 


38  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

drifted  into  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  his  regiment  was  assigned 
to  General  Hancock's  corps,  and  with  ^McC'lelhin's  great  army  entered 
upon  the  Peninsular  Campaign,  Almost  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
call  to  the  front,  ^lay  15, 1862,  ]Mr,  Laws  was  in  the  field,  engaged  in 
the  Battle  of  Williamsburg.  He  was  twice  wounded  in  that  action, 
once  in  the  left  arm  and  again  in  the  left  ankle.  With  1,200  other 
wounded  men,  of  both  armies  and  several  nationalities,  Mr.  Laws 
w^as  taken  on  board  the  steamer  '' Vanderbilt,"  which  was  moored 
above  Yorktown,  and  all  were  conveyed  to  Baltimore,  Maryland,  for 
hospital  care  and  surgical  treatment.  On  the  voyage  those  twelve 
hundred  men  had  no  aid  or  care  except  that  given  by  four  Sisters  of 
Charity,  M'ho  labored  for  the  comfort  of  the  suffering  soldiers  with 
an  impartial  fidelity  that  was  the  perfection  of  heroic  Christian  for- 
titude. No  man  was  neglected;  all  were  treated  precisely  alike. 
Those  faithful  women  stayed  at  their  posts  as  long  as  they  could  stand 
up,  and  the  men  almost  forgot  the  agonies  of  their  own  wounds  in 
grateful  admiration  of  those  most  noble  attendants.  ^Nlr,  Laws  to 
this  day  regards  their  grand  devotion  to  duty  as  one  of  the  most  gen- 
uine and  splendid  exhibitions  of  human  excellence  that  he  has  ever 
known.  For  eight  days  Mr.  Laws's  wounds  went  without  surgical 
attention.  The  bones  of  his  ankle  being  shattered  to  pieces,  the  flesh 
had  begun  to  decompose  when  treatment  was  at  last  begun,  and  his 
leg  above  the  ankle  had  to  be  amputated.  Even  with  this  severe 
remedy  the  battle  for  life  was  a  terrible  one,  and  his  friends  hardly 
expected  to  see  him  rise  from  his  bed  again.  He  lay  on  his  back  in 
the  hot  hospital  until  the  processes  of  his  spine  protruded,  and  his 
flesh  wasted  away  until  he  weighed  but  little  over  seventy  pounds. 

The  ladies  of  Baltimore  carried  on  the  most  perfect  hos})ital  service 
organized  anywhere  in  the  Nation.  Fifteen  thousand  of  them  were 
banded  together,  and  every  day  they  visited  every  sick  and  wounded 
soldier,  administering  comforts  and  delicacies  until  they,  in  matters  of 
diet,  actually  killed  some  of  the  men  with  kindness.  Tliis  they  did 
without  regard  to  which  army  the  soldier  fought  in.  But  amongst 
themselves  they  enjoyed  a  partisan  hate  that  was  not  excelled  any- 
where in  the  United  States.  Under  their  gracious  care  Mr.  I^aws 
continued  fn^m  the  ]3tli  day  of  May  until  the  29th  of  July,  part  of 
the  time  hovering  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  Dark  Valley;  but  his 
strong  constitution  enaljled  him  to  pass  the  crisis  safely. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  39 

On  the  2l)th  of  July  his  brother  came  from  Wisconsin  and  easily 
took  him  in  his  arms  to  the  train  which  conveyed  them  back  to  his 
home  county.  In  September  he  was  able  to  get  out  on  crutches,  for 
the  first  time  in  over  four  months.  On  that  day  he  \vent  to  the 
county  seat  to  attend  the  Republican  county  convention,  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  loyal  people.  The  moment  the  convention  was 
organized  a  resolution  was  passed,  unanimously  and  amid  much  en- 
thusiasm, providing  that  G.  L.  Laws  could  take  his  choice  of  the 
county  offices,  and  his  selection  would  be  ratified  by  the  people. 

Mr.  Laws  agreed  to  accept  the  office  of  County  Clerk,  and  the  nom- 
ination was  given  him  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  convention.  He 
was  elected  on  November  4,  18G2,  by  a  majority  of  843,  when  the 
average  Republican  majority  of  the  county  was  about  300.  He  was 
reelected  in  1864,  and  again  in  18G6,  and  served  six  years  in  that 
office.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of 
Richland  Center,  which  position  he  filled  with  ability  until  April, 
1876,  when  he  resigned  for  the  purpose  of  removing  to  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Laws  has  enjoyed  enough  newspaper  experience  to  fully  entitle 
him  to  wear  the  badge  of  the  craft.  In  November,  1863,  in  company 
with  Samuel  C.  Hyatt  and  William  J.  Waggoner,  he  bought  the 
Richland  County  Observer.  Although  this  was  the  first  experience 
of  these  gentlemen  in  newspaper  work,  they  made  a  live  and  success- 
ful paper  of  it.  All  were  soldiers  and  fiist  friends.  On  May  12,  1864, 
he  sold  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  a  brother  of  William  J.  Waggoner 
—  James  H.  AVaggouer.  On  August  8,  1867,  the  Observer  and  The 
Live  Republican  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Richland 
County  Republican,  of  which  Mr.  G.  L.  Laws  owned  a  one-fourth  in- 
terest, in  company  Avith  James  H.  Waggoner,  who  owned  one-half 
and  managed  the  paper,  and  C.  H.  Smith.  In  a  few  months  Messrs. 
Laws  and  Smith  sold  their  interest  in  the  Republican  to  George  D. 
Stevens.  On  September  1,  1874,  Mr.  Laws  again  bought  a  half  in- 
terest in  the  Republican  from  Air.  Waggoner,  and  he  continued  a  joint 
proprietor  of  the  paper  with  W.  M.  Fogo  for  tw^o  years,  and  finally 
sold  his  interest  to  O.  G.  Munson,  and  so  ended  his  newspaper  work 
until  he  became  a  citizen  of  Nebraska. 

Incidentally  it  may  be  said  that  Mr,  Laws  was  ever  a  very  busy  man. 
If  he  ever  had  any  months  of  idleness  from  the  age  of  six  years  to  the 
present  time,  the  records  do  not  reveal  when  it  was.     Besides  the  evi- 


40  lll.'^TOUV    OF    HIE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

donees  ofhis  indnstrv  :ilre:idy  related,  we  find  liina  president  of"  the  Ijoard 
of  town  trustees  of  Richland  Center  in  1861>.  About  the  same  time  he 
had  a  business  connection  with  a  real  estate  firm.  During'  this  busy 
period  of  his  life,  if  one  period  could  be  much  more  busy  than  an- 
other, he  was  one  of  a  board  of  five  trustees  who  gave  personal  atten- 
tion to  the  erection  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Richland  Center. 
This  structure  was  of  brick,  on  a  high  stone  basement,  and  cost 
86,000,  a  very  large  sum  for  the  pioneers  of  that  locality  to  raise  at 
that  date.  The  M'ork  was  delayed  from  tinie  to  time  because  of  a  lack 
of  funds,  but  the  trustees  held  on  tenaciously  and  finally  completed 
the  l)uilding,  which  was  the  finest  church  structure  in  the  county  as 
late  as  1884.  The  name  of  G.  L.  Laws  also  appears  on  the  roll  of 
Masters  of  Richland  Lodge  No.  66,  A,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Richland  Cen- 
ter, which  was  organized  in  1856. 

In  April,  1876,  Mr.  Laws  resigned  the  office  of  postmaster  of  Rich- 
land Center,  and  removed  to  Nebraska.  He  located  at  Orleans,  in 
Harlan  county,  at  which  point  he  purchased  the  Republican  Valley 
Sentinel,  and  took  up  the  editorial  pen  for  a  fourth  time.  He  soon 
became  secretary  of  the  Republican  Valley  Land  Association,  which 
position  he  held  until  about  1880,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  J.  D. 
jNIacfarland,  of  Lincoln.  In  1881  he  sold  the  Soiiinel  to  Wenn  & 
Knight.  From  1881  he  was  engaged  as  a  clerk  in  the  land  office  at 
Bloomington,  and  also  assisted  in  a  bank  at  Orleans  during  a  part  of 
this  ])eriod. 

He  was  appointed  and  confirmed  registrar  of  the  Federal  land  office 
at  McCook  on  March  3,  1883,  and  took  possession  of  that  office  on 
June  loth  following.  He  administered  the  affiiirsof  this  resi)onsible 
post  with  unquestioned  efficiency  until  lie  was  removed  by  Grover 
Cleveland,  on  November  2,  1886.  He  had  already  been  nominated 
by  the  Republican  party  of  the  State  for  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  and  on  the  next  day  after  he  left  the  land  office  he  was  elected 
Secretary  of  State  over  Richard  Thompson,  Democrat,  (who  ran  ahead 
of  his  ticket,)  by  21,450  votes,  the  total  vote  cast  being  less  than  139,- 
000.  Mr.  I>aws  administered  the  affairs  of  this  very  important  office 
with  fidelity  and  success,  combining,  as  it  does,  responsible  relations 
to  nearly  all  the  State  in.-titutions,  the  State  lioard  of  Transportation, 
and  other  State  executive  boards,  these  complex  relations  calling  ibr 
large  executive  ability  and  sound  judgment.     He  performed  the  work 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  41 

of  his  first  term  so  well,  however,  that  he  was  renominated  for  a  sec- 
ond term  by  acclamation  by  the  Republican  State  Convention  of  1888, 
and  was  re-elected  by  nearly  28,000  majority.  The  present  adminis- 
tration of  Secretary  Laws  has  been  able  in  an  eminent  degree,  and 
he  ranks  as  one  of  the  very  safest  and  best  officials  that  Nebraska 
possesses  to-day. 

Though  somewhat  out  of  chronological  order,  yet,  on  the  principle 
of  reserving  the  best  things  for  the  conclusion,  we  will  here  refer  to 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Laws,  This  took  place  at  the  former  residence  of 
the  bride's  father,  Mr.  Isaac  Lawrence,  in  Bear  creek  valley,  in  Rich- 
land county,  Wisconsin,  October  25,  1868.  The  bride  was  Miss 
Josephine  Lawrence,  and,  as  Mrs.  G.  L.  Laws,  is  too  well  known  to 
Lincoln  society  to  require  an  introduction.  Mr.  Laws  was  one  of 
eleven  children.  His  own  children  are  three  in  number,  all  daughters. 
Their  names  are  Gertrude  H,,  Theodosia  C,  and  Helen  Lucile  Laws. 

The  Territorial  Auditors  were  six  in  number,  as  follows: 


Charles  B.  Smith,  March  16,  1855. 
Samuel  L.  Campbell,  August  3,  1857. 
William  E.  Moore,  June  1,  1858. 


Eobert  C.  Jordan,  August  2,  1858. 
Wm.  E.  Harvey,  October  8,  1861. 
John  Gillespie,  October  10,  1865. 


The  State  Auditors  have  been  six,  Mr.  Gillespie  continuing  from 
Territorial  times  into  the  State  administration  about  six  years.  The 
list  of  State  Auditors  is  as  shown  below : 


John  Gillespie,  February,  1867. 
Jefferson   B.  Weston,  January  13,  1873. 
F.  W.  Liedtke,  January  9,  1879. 


John  Wallichs,!  November  12,  1880. 
H.  A.  Babcock,  January  8,  1885. 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  January  3,  1889. 


Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  the  present  State  Auditor  of  Nebraska, 
was  installed  in  the  very  responsible  position  he  now  occupies  on  the 
third  day  of  January,  1889.  He  was  then  but  a  little  over  thirty 
years  of  age,  the  youngest  man  who  ever  held  such  an  important 
office  in  this  State,  and  one  of  the  few  who  have  been  elevated  to  so 
high  a  place  of  trust  in  the  United  States  at  so  early  an  age.  And 
in  making  him  their  choice  for  Auditor  his  fellow  citizens  exhibited 
a  confidence  in  his  ability  to  discharge  the  difficult  duties  of  the  place 
that  was  remarkable,  as  he  received  the  highest  vote  of  any  state 
officer,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  number  of  able  men  and  tried 
officials  were  associated  with  him  as  candidates. 

1  Appointed  to  fill  vacancy. 

4 


42  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Benton  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  Oc- 
tober 17,  1858.  His  father,  William  I.  Benton,  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  when  a  young  man,  but  later  in  life  followed  agricul- 
tural pursuits.  He  was  a  plain,  sturdy  citizen,  and  with  his  wife, 
Mrs.  Emaline  Benton,  believed  in  the  good  old  customs  and  princi- 
ples for  which  the  descendants  of  the  New  England  Puritans  are  dis- 
tinguished. Both  his  parents  were  Americans,  possessing  the  staunch 
virtues  of  the  people  who  founded  the  civilization  of  the  ^^'cstern 
world,  along  the  shore  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  State  Auditor  spent  his  boyhood  on  a  farm  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  ten  years,  attending  to  the  usual  duties  of  farm  life,  and 
at  the  same  time  cidtivating  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  common 
schools  of  the  locality  where  he  lived.  At  the  age  of  ten,  and  in  1868, 
his  father  removed  to  Nebraska,  and  located  in  Fremont,  b(!coming  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  the  State,  and  thus  initiating  his  son,  the  future  State 
Auditor,  into  the  severe  school  of  practical  western  farm  life  in  the 
early  days  of  Nebraska.  He  worked  on  a  farm  in  summer  time,  and 
attended  school  during  winters,  at  Fremont,  until  he  reached  his 
thirteenth  year,  when  he  spent  a  year,  that  of  1872-3,  at  Doane  Col- 
lege, at  Crete,  Nebraska, 

In  the  summer  of  1873  young  Benton  entered  a  telegraph  office  at 
Fremont,  Avhere  he  spent  nearly  a  year,  and  became  a  practical  oper- 
ator. The  following  spring  he  became  recorder  in  the  county  clerk's 
office  at  Fremont,  then  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and,  perhaps,  the  young- 
est recorder  of  important  public  instruments  who  ever  performed 
such  work  in  Nebraska.  But  young  Benton  always  made  it  a  j)oint 
to  do  his  work  well,  and  filled  the  position  with  credit  to  himself  un- 
til January  1,  1877,  when  he  secured  the  position  of  clerk  in  the 
office  <tf  State  Auditor  J.  B.  Weston.  This  he  filled  acceptably  until 
the  summer  of  1877,  when  he  accepted  a  place  as  salesman  in  the  book 
store  of  Arthur  Gibson,  of  Fremont.  Here  he  remained  until  the 
.'spring  of  1878,  when  he  was  given  the  post  of  book-keeper  for  a 
foundry  at  Fremont,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  that  ])osition  until 
IX'cember  of  tiiat  year. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1879,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
he  was  elected  second  assistant  clerk  of  the  House,  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  that  oflicc  with  marked  ability  until  the  close  of  February, 
when  he  was  given  the  })osition  of  book-keeper  by  State  Auditor  F. 
W.  Liedtke. 


HOX.  T.  H.  BENTON,  AUDITOR   OF   STATE. 


HON.  J.  E.   HILL,  STATE   TREASURER. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL   TIMES.  43 

111  this  situation  Mr.  Beuton  Mas  at  home,  his  ability  and  skill  as 
an  accountant  being  even  at  this  time  beyond  question.  He  continued 
to  occupy  this  responsible  post  during  the  entire  term  of  Auditor 
Liedtke,  and  that  of  his  successor,  John  AVallichs, 

On  January  7,  1885,  H.  A.  Babcock,  then  State  Auditor,  selected 
Mr.  Benton  for  the  position  of  Deputy  State  Auditor.  In  this  im- 
portant trust  Mr.  Benton  acquitted  himself  with  all  that  thorouo'h- 
ness,  prudence  and  tact  which  the  duties  of  an  efficient  administration 
of  the  duties  of  the  place  required,  and  to  such  a  degree  of  success 
that  when  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  State  Auditor,  in 
the  summer  of  1888,  the  most  searching  criticisms  of  his  opponents 
could  not  reveal  a  blemish  in  his  integrity,  nor  a  shortcoming  in  the 
execution  of  the  work  that  had  been  assigned  him.  He  was  nom- 
inated against  such  strong  competitors  as  John  Peters,  of  Albion, 
and  Henry  Groshans,  of  Sutton.  His  election  was  accomplished  by 
the  highest  aggregate  vote  received  by  any  State  officer  on  the  ticket,  a 
circumstance  which  affiards  Mr.  Benton  occasion  for  a  larsfe  decree  of 
just  pride. 

On  the  third  day  of  January,  1889,  Mr.  Benton  was  duly  installed 
in  the  office  of  State  Auditor  of  Nebraska,  and  he  has  discharged  the 
complex  responsibilities  of  this  important  position,  since  that  date, 
with  conspicuous  fidelity  to  duty  and  the  high  manifestation  of  esteem 
expressed  for  him  by  the  people  of  the  State  at  the  polls. 

Hon.  Thos.  H.  Benton  is  a  relative  of  the  famous  Senator  Thomas 
H.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  who  so  ably  and  honorably  represented  the 
people  of  his  State  in  eminent  positions  of  trust  for  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury. 

Mr.  Benton  was  married  to  Miss  Fanny  McManigal,  of  Lincoln, 
on  the  8th  of  August,  1881,  and  is  a  brother-in-law  of  Hon.  G.  W.  E. 
Dorsey,  ISIember  of  Congress  from  the  Third  District.  He  esteems 
his  honors  highly;  but  his  little  daughter,  Hazel  M.  Benton,  born  Au- 
gust 24, 1886,  is  regarded  by  Mr.  Benton,  next  to  Mrs.  Benton,  as  the 
best  of  all  his  treasures. 

The  three  Territorial  Treasurers  are  noted  in  the  annexed  list : 

B.  P.  Eankiu,  March  16,  1855.  j    Augustus  Kouutze.  October  8,  1861. 

Wm.  W.  Wyman,  November  6,  1855.        j 

Mr.  Kountze  was  continued  in  office  by  the  State.  The  list  of  State 
Treasurers  is  here  shown : 


44  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Augustus  Kountze,  February,  1867.  ,  George  M.  Bartlett,  January  9,  1879. 

James  Sweet,  January  11,  1869.  |  Phelps  D.  Sturdevant,  January  4,  1883. 

Henry  A.  Koenig,  January  10,  1871.  1  Charles  H.  Willard,  January  8,  1885. 

J.  C.  MeBride.  January  11,1875.  j  John  E.  Hill.  January  3,  1889. 

Hon.  John  E.  Hill,  the  Treasurer  for  the  State  of  Nebraska,  is  by 
virtue  of  his  office  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Transportation, 
the  State  Board  of  Educational  Lands  and  Funds,  the  State  Board 
of  Public  Lauds  and  Buildings,  the  State  Board  of  Purchases  and 
Supplies,  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  the  State  Board  of  Phar- 
macy, the  State  Board  of  Printing,  the  State  Board  of  Banking,  and 
the  State  Normal  Board.  In  other  words,  he  is  a  member  of  the  main 
executive  boards  of  the  State. 

As  biography  is  the  foundation  of  history,  a  brief  sketch  of  Mr. 
Hill's  life  is  very  appropriate  to  a  history  of  Lincoln,  in  which  he  is 
now  a  prominent  figure. 

His  father's  name  was  Samuel  Hill,  who  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  descended  on  his  father's  side 
probably  from  the  Scotch.  His  mother,  a  grandmother  of  the  State 
Treasurer,  was  named  Van  Ordestrand.  She  was  probably  a  native 
of  Holland.  Samuel  Hill  was  apprenticed,  when  young,  to  learn  the 
hatter's  trade,  and  spent  four  years  "bound  out"  at  this  occupation. 
Tiien  he  followed  the  life  of  a  farmer,  in  Ohio,  and  later  in  life  be- 
came a  merchant.  He  was  a  prudent,  cautious,  business  man.  He 
spent  his  closing  years  at  Hey  worth,  Illinois,  where  he  died,  in  1882. 
During  his  life  he  held  several  important  public  positions. 

The  mother  of  the  Treasurer  was,  before  marriage.  Miss  Pamela 
Edgar.  She  was  a  woman  of  high  spirit  and  energy,  courageous, 
persistent,  devoted  to  duty  and  success.  She  was  born  at  Berlin, 
Holmes  county,  Ohio.  On  her  mother's  side  she  was  descended  from 
the  Scotch.  Her  father  was  of  Irisli  nativity.  His  ancestors  made  a 
name  in  the  military  history  of  Ireland,  Col.  Edgar  and  others  of 
the  name  being  brave  defenders  of  the  cause  of  Ireland's  independ- 
ence. Her  fatlier  was  a  prominent  AVhig  politician  of  Ohio,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  early  Legislature  of  that  State.  Her  death  oc- 
curred at  Heyworth,  Illinois,  in  187L 

The  Treasurer,  John  E.  Hill,  was  born  in  Berlin,  Ohio.  He  spent 
his  boyhood  on  a  farm,  working  in  summer,  and  going  to  school  in 
winter,  like  most  farmer  boys  had  to  do,  from  1840  to  1865.     When 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  45 

seventeen  years  of  age  he  removed,  with  his  father's  family,  to  De- 
fiance county,  Ohio,  near  Farmer's  Center,  where  he  continued  to 
follow  agricultural  pursuits  in  summer,  but  taught  district  school  in 
the  winter.  This  was  the  routine  of  his  life  until  1861,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  year,  which  he  spent  at  West  Unity  Academy,  near  his 
home. 

In  1861  he  enlisted  in  the  14th  Ohio  Infantry,  but  was  soon  after- 
ward prostrated  with  typhoid  fever,  and  did  not  recover  his  health 
for  nearly  a  year.  The  perilous  condition  of  the  Union  in  1862 
stirred  the  blood  of  the  men  of  his  home  region,  and  early  in  August 
they  assembled  and  formed  a  company  by  general  agreement.  The 
work  of  its  organization  required  only  four  days,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  fourth  the  company  chose  John  E.  Hill  its  captain,  unanimously. 
On  the  fifth  day  the  company  reported  for  duty  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  and 
was  assigned  to  Company  F,  of  the  111th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry, 
commanded  by  Col.  J.  R.  Bond.  The  regiment  soon  began  duty  un- 
der Gen.  Buel,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  After  moving  to  Frankfort 
and  thence  to  Bowling  Green,  Company  F  and  one  other  company, 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  J.  E.  Hill,  were  assigned  to  Fort  Baker, 
Kentucky,  of  which  Capt.  Hill  had  charge  during  the  winter  of  1862 
and  1863.  Here  he  was  attacked  by  typhoid-pneumonia,  and  his  life 
was  despaired  of  for  several  days ;  but  he  was  able  to  take  command 
of  his  company  in  the  spring.  The  company  next  was  engaged  in 
the  campaign  in  East  Tennessee,  and  was  with  the  first  troops  that 
entered  Knoxville.  This  was  the  active  contest  to  oppose  the  ad- 
vance of  Longstreet,  after  Chickamauga.  During  the  campaign  in 
Tennessee,  Capt.  Hill  was  designated  as  Provost-JNIarshal  by  General 
Schofield,  and  had  command  of  the  captured  towns  of  that  State. 

The  winter  of  1863-64  was  spent  in  East  Tennessee,  and  then 
Captain  Hill's  command  joined  Sherman  in  his  grand  campaign  of 
battles  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  one  of  the  longest  periods  of 
continued  fighting  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  guns  of  the  tAvo 
armies  were  not  silent  a  day  from  the  9th  of  May  until  some  time  in 
September.  On  the  first  date  named  Captain  Hill's  company  engaged 
the  enemy  at  Buzzard's  Roost,  and  he  led  his  command  into  every 
important  action  from  that  point  to  Atlanta.  It  seemed  to  be  the  for- 
tune of  his  company  to  be  in  the  hottest  of  nearly  all  the  great  battles 
of  this  memorable  campaign,  such  as  Ressaca,  Peach  Tree,  Kenesaw, 


46  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

and  Atlanta.  A\'lien  Atlanta  fell  Captain  Hill's  company  was  sent 
back  Avith  General  George  H.  Thomas  to  meet  Hood's  desperate  at- 
tempt to  cnt  Sherman's  commnnications,  and  here  again  Company  F 
was  freqnently  in  the  hottest  of  the  fight,  and  suffered  severely,  es- 
pecially at  Nashville  and  Franklin.  In  fact  it  was  reduced  to  a  mere 
skeleton  of  its  former  self. 

When  Hood  was  overthrown  the  llltli  Ohio  was  ordered  to  North 
Carolina  to  help  Sherman  crush  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  but  the  many 
months  of  constant  exposure,  nervous  strain,  privation,  loss  of  rest, 
and  long,  hurried  marches,  had  utterly  broken  the  health  of  Captain 
Hill,  and  he  was  compelled  to  remain  at  Louisville  and  enter  the  hos- 
pital. It  seemed  that  he  was  a  physical  wreck.  After  remaining  in 
the  hospital  for  some  time,  the  board  of  physicians,  without  his 
kn<»wledge,  recommended  his  honorable  discharge  on  account  of  phys- 
ical disability.  This  recommendation  was  complied  with  near  the 
close  of  hostilities. 

When  able  to  do  so,  he  returned  to  Ohio,  and  soon  afterward  re- 
moved to  Heyworth,  Illinois,  with  his  father's  family.  There  he  and 
his  father  entered  into  the  mercantile  business,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Hill  &  Son. 

In  1866  he  Avas  married  to  Miss  Laura  Stewart,  an  estimable  lady 
of  Fairmont,  West  Virginia.  He  continued  in  business,  with  reason- 
able success,  until  1871,  when  he  felt  that  he  could  do  better  in  a  new 
and  expanding  country,  and  removed  to  Beatrice,  Nebraska. 

He  there  engaged  in  the  nursery  and  stock-raising  business  for  four 
years.  When  Beatrice  was  organized  under  the  law  as  a  city  of  the 
first  class,  in  1872,  Captain  Hill  became  a  member  of  the  first  city 
council.  In  1875  he  was  elected  County  Clerk  of  Gage  county,  and 
was  twice  afterward  reelected.  After  concluding  his  third  term,  he 
engaged  in  the  grocery  business  for  three  years,  and  then  devoted  his 
time  to  growing  fine  stock.  During  this  period  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  the  county  for  two  years,  and  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  Beatrice  for  six  years,  his  last  term  closing  in 
the  spring  of  1885). 

On  Feljruary  1,  1887,  Governor  Thayer  selected  Captain  Hill  for 
his  ])rivate  secretary  without  giving  the  Captain  any  ])revious  intima- 
tion of  his  intention.  This  position  Captain  Hill  filled  with  eiliciency 
until   August   1,  1888,  wiien   he  resigned  to  become  a  candidate  for 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  47 

State  Treasurer.  He  was  nominated  over  twelve  strong  competitors, 
and  Avas  elected  by  nearly  28,000  majority,  receiving  the  highest  net 
majority  of  any  candidate.  He  is  now  discharging  the  duties  of  tliis 
very  responsible  office  with  the  same  fidelity  and  ability  which  he  has 
manifested  in  guarding  the  many  duties  that  have  been  confided  to  his 
hands  during  the  past  twenty-seven  years. 

He  recently  removed  his  family  to  Lincoln.  It  consists  of  his  wife 
and  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  young  ladies.  Their  names 
are  Gertrude,  Carolina,  Anna,  Herbert  Stewart,  Hannah,  Winifred, 
and  John  E.  He  has  one  brother  younger  than  himself,  ]Mr.  Fred 
H.  Hill,  who  resides  at  the  old  homestead  at  Hayworth,  Illinois.  He 
also  has  a  sister,  likewise  younger  than  himself,  who  resides  at  Stutt- 
gart, Arkansas.  Her  name  is  Mrs.  Anna  M.  Lowe,  and  her  son,  Mr. 
Sam  Lowe,  is  now  an  efficient  clerk  in  the  Governor's  office. 

The  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory,  Federal  Judges, 

were  as  follows : 

Fenuer  Ferguson,  October  12,  1854.  I    William  Kellogg,  May  8,  1863. 

Augustus  Hall,  March  15,  1858.  I    William  A.  Little,' 1866. 

William  Pitt  Kellogg,  May27,  1861.         '    Oliver  P.  Masou,-  1866. 

The  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  have  been  as  fol- 
lows : 


Oliver  P.  Mason,  February,  1867. 
George  B.  Lake,  January  16,  187;^. 
Daniel  Gantt,'  January  3,  1878. 
Samuel  Maxwell,  May  29,  1878. 


George  B.  Lake,  January  5,  1882. 
Amasa  Cobb,  January  3,  1884. 
Samuel  Maxwell,  January  4,  1886. 
M.  B.  Ptee.se,  January  3,  1888. 


Following  are  the  names  of  the  Associate  Justices  and  Judges  of 

the  Territorial  Supreme  Court : 

Edward  R.  Harden,  December  4,  1854.  Joseph  Miller,  April  9,  1859. 

James  Bradley,  October  25,  1854.  William  F.  Lockwood,  May  16,  1861. 

Samuel  W.  Black.  .Joseph  E.  Streeter.' 

Eleazer  Wakeley,  April  22,  1857.  Elmer  S.  Dundy,^  June  22,  1863. 

The  Associate  Justices  and  Judges  of  the  State  Supreme  Court 
have  been : 


George  B.  Lake,  February  21,  1867. 
Lorenzo  Crounse,  February  21,  1867. 


Samuel  Maxwell,  January  16.  1873. 
Amasa  Cobb,  May  29,  1878. 


Daniel  Gantt,  .lannary  16,  1873.  I    M.  B.  Reese,  January  3,  1884. 

1  Died  iu  office. 

-  Appointed  to  fill  vacancy. 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  Clerks  of  the  Supreme  Court  have  been  seven  in  number,  as 
subjoined  : 


H.  C.  Anderson,  1856. 
Charles  L.  Salisbury,  185R. 
E.  i;.  Chandler,  1859. 
John  H.  Kellom,  1861. 


William  Kellojig  jr.,  1865. 

George  Armstrong,  1867. 

Guj'  A.  Brown,  August  8,  1868. 


SUPREME  COURT  REPORTERS. 

James  M.  Woolworth,  1870.  I    Guy  A.  Brown,  1875. 

Lorenzo  Crouuse,  1873.  | 

The  eight  Attorney  Generals  of  the  State  are  named  below : 

Geo.  H.  Roberts,  January  11,  1875. 


Champion  S.  Chase,  1867. 

Seth  Robinsou,  186.). 

Geo.  H.  Roberts,  January  10,  1871. 


C.  J.  Dilworth,  January  9,  1879. 
Isaac  Powers  jr.,  January  4,  18^*3. 


J.  R.  Webster,  January  13,  1873.  i    William  Leese,  January  8,  1885. 

The  five  State  Superintendents  of  Public  Instruction  have  been  as 

follows : 

Seth  W.  Beals,  1869.  I    W.  W.  W.  Jones,  January  6,  1881. 

J.  M.  ISIcKenzie,  January  10,  1871.  George  B.  Lane,  January  6,  1887. 

S.  R.  Thompson,  January  4,  1877. 

There  have  been  but  four  Commissioners  of  Public  Lands  and 

Buildings,  namely: 

F.  M.  Davis,  January  4,  1877.  I    Joseph  Scott,  January  8,  1885. 

A.  G.  Kendall,  January  6,  1881.  1    John  Steeu,  January  3,  1889. 

Hon.  John  Steen,  State  Commissioner  of  Public  Lands  and  Build- 
ings for  Nebraska,  was  installed  in  that  office  on  January  3,  1889. 
By  virtue  of  his  office  he  is  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Trans- 
portation, which  possesses,  to  some  extent,  judicial  authority,  as  well 
as  administrative  and  executive  powers,  in  the  adjustment  f)f  the  rela- 
tions of  the  railroad  interests  of  the  State,  amicably  and  equitably, 
Avith  tho.se  of  the  people.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Educational  Ijands  and  Funds.  He  is  Chairman  of  the  State  Board 
of  Public  Lands  and  Buildings.  He  is,  in  addition,  one  of  the  State 
Board  of  Pnrchases  and  Supplies,  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Pharmacy.  These  boards  are  all  composed  of  the 
principal  State  officers,  and  Mr.  Steen's  work  as  a  State  official  is  of  a 
difficult  and  highly  resj)onsiblc  character.  He  is  regarded  as  a  most 
efficient  and  prudent  officer,  well  worthy  the  high  trust  confided  to 
his  charge  by  the  people. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL    TIMES.  49 

Mr.  Steen  has  earned  his  present  distinguished  position  by  a  life 
of  hard  work,  patriotism,  courage,  and  fidelity  to  duty  and  principle. 
A  brief  sketch  of  his  personal  history  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest  in 
a  story  of  the  history  of  Nebraska's  capital,  in  which  he  is  now  a  con- 
spicuous figure. 

He  is  a  native  of  Norway.  His  father  was  Tron  A.  Steen,  who  was 
born  near  Christiana,  Norway,  January  17,  1804.  His  occupation 
was  farming  and  manufacturing.  Large  importations  of  leaf  tobacco 
were  shipped  into  Christiana,  and  the  father  of  Nebraska's  Commis- 
sioner was  engaged,  in  part,  in  making  caddies  in  which  to  pack  the 
manufactured  tobacco.  His  father  was  always  an  anti-monarchist 
in  political  sentiment,  and  his  sons  inherited  republican  opinions  from 
him. 

Mr.  Steeu's  mother  was  Miss  Ingeborg  H.  Torsdag  before  her  mar- 
riage, and  was  born  near  Lillehammed,  Norway,  on  January  31,  1804. 
Her  marriage  with  Tron  A.  Steen  took  place  near  Christiana,  on  De- 
cember 25,  1827.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  energy  and  industry, 
and  never  tired  in  making  home  pleasant  for  her  children  and  in  aid- 
ing to  develop  in  them  the  spirit  of  manly  character.  She  was  a 
woman  of  strong  and  noble  characteristics,  one  of  the  women  who  are 
naturally  the  mothers  of  heroes. 

John  Steen  was  born  on  his  father's  farm,  near  Christiana,  Norway, 
on  October  21,  1841,  and  was  the  sixth  of  a  family  of  eight  sons.  He 
spent  his  boyhood,  while  in  Norway,  in  going  to  school,  though  he 
was  taught  industrious  habits  between  terms. 

In  1853  his  father's  family  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and 
settled  on  a  farm  near  Decorah,  in  AVinneshiek  county,  Iowa.  Here 
Master  Steen  continued  to  go  to  school  in  winter,  but  applied  him- 
self to  hard  farm  work  in  summer  until  1861,  taking  the  main  con- 
trol of  affairs,  as  his  father  was  getting  old.  The  heavier  part  of  the 
work  fell  to  his  lot,  and  thus  it  happened  that  he  cut  most  of  the 
grain  on  the  farm  with  the  old-fashioned  cradle,  which,  in  the  hands 
of  a  powerful  man,  had  a  good  deal  of  the  "poetry  of  motion"  about 
it,  if  some  other  man  had  to  swing  it.  Mr.  Steeu's  muscles  became 
compact,  and  his  body  well  knit  by  the  years  of  hard  work  he  put 
in  on  the  old  home  farm. 

On  October  21,  1861,  the  day  after  he  was  twenty  years  old,  I\Ir. 
Steen  enlisted  in  Company  G  of  the  12th  Iowa  Infantry,  under  Cap- 


50  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

tain  V.  C.  Tapper,  a  West  Point  oraduate.  His  regimental  eoni- 
mander  was  Col.  J.  J.  Woods,  who  had  also  had  some  training  at 
West  Point.  Two  of  his  brothers,  Theodore  and  Henry,  joined  the 
same  company,  and  they  served  throngh  the  war  together.  But  all 
six  of  these  patriotic  brothers  were  in  the  Union  Army.  The  three 
brothers  in  the  12th  Iowa  were  in  their  country's  service  until  Jan- 
uary, 186G.  The  regiment  went  into  a  camp  of  instruction  at  Du- 
buque, Iowa,  until  November  28th,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Benton 
Barracks,  Missouri.  It  left  there  January  29,  1862,  and  proceeded 
to  Smithland,  Kentucky,  and  from  that  point  joined  General  Grant's 
expedition  against  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson.  The  12th  Iowa  as- 
sisted to  take  Fort  Henry,  which  surrendered  February  6,  18(32. 
Then  it  proceeded  to  Fort  Donelson,  which  it  reached  February  12th, 
and  participated  in  the  storming  and  capture  of  that  stronghold  as 
a  part  of  Col.  Cook's  Brigade,  of  Gen.  C.  F.  Smith's  Division.  Here 
it  will  be  recalled  that  the  12th  and  2d  Iowa  Avere  on  the  extreme 
left,  and  that  the  2d  Iowa  made  a  very  gallant  charge,  and  gained 
the  first  lodgment,  and  was  immediately  supported  on  its  right  by 
the  12th  Iowa,  which  made  almost  as  brilliant  a  dash  as  the  2d. 
This  was  on  the  15th  of  February.  Gen.  Buckner  surrendered  the 
fort  the  next  day,  and  the  country  was  proud  of  Grant  and  the  Iowa 
and  Illinois  troops,  that  had  accomplished  this  brilliant  achievement. 
Then  the  gallant  12th  went  to  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  assisted  all 
through  that  terrible  0th  of  April,  18(32,  to  hold  the  center  of  the 
line,  in  company  with  the  famous  Iowa  Brigade,  composed  of  the  2d, 
7th,  12th,  and  14tli,  Iowa  regiments,  under  the  command  of  General 
J.  M.  Tuttle,  and  in  the  division  of  General  W.  H.  L.  Wallace. 
After  this  brigade  had  held  the  spot  now  historically  illustrious  as 
the  "Hornets'  Nest,"  and  after  the  rebel  force  had  broken  away  the 
Union  line  both  to  the  right  and  left,  and  had  suri'ounded  the  12th 
and  14th  and  attacked  them  from  all  sides,  they  surrendered,  and  be- 
came prisoners  of  war.  General  Tuttle  had  ordered  the  brigade  to 
fall  back,  but  the  order  failed  to  reach  the  12th  and  14th.  Just  at 
the  moment  of  capture  ]\Ir.  Steen  received  a  wound  on  his  right  side, 
under  the  right  arm.  The  surrender  took  ])lace  between  five  and 
six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  j>risoncrs  were  taken  to  Corinth, 
and  for  three  days  were  without  food.  Of  course  the  pangs  of  hun- 
ger became  very  keen  with  such  a  fast,  after  such  a  struggle  as  that 
of  April  (ith. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL   TIMES.  51 

From  Corinth  the  prisoners  were  taken  to  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
where  they  remained  a  few  clays,  and  M^ere  thence  forwarded  to  Mo- 
bile, Alabama.  From  that  place  they  were  removed  to  Cahaba,  Ala- 
bama, where  they  were  huddled  together  in  an  old  tobacco  warehouse, 
and  there  suffered  their  first  severe  trial  of  rebel  prison  life.  Here 
the  starving  process  was  begun.  After  two  weeks  of  this  pen,  the 
prisoners,  of  wdiom  Mr.  Steen  was  one,  were  taken  to  Macon,  Geor- 
gia, where  he  endured  the  infamous  mistreatment  for  which  that  pen 
is  historical,  for  two  or  three  months.  Then  he  was  paroled,  and  was 
taken  to  Benton  Barracks,  Missouri,  where  he  did  garrison  duty,  un- 
til exchanged  in  January,  1863.  Then  the  men  of  his  regiment 
were  reorganized  in  time  to  join  in  Gen.  Grant's  magnificent  cam- 
paign, whereby  he  swung  below  Vicksburg,  and  with  a  masterly 
movement,  as  brilliant  as  any  executed  by  Napoleon,  in  sixty  days 
whipped  an  army  of  over  sixty  thousand,  in  detail,  with  a  force  of 
but  forty-five  thousand.  Mr.  Steen  made  the  quick  march  to  Jack- 
son, Miss.,  where  Sherman  and  McPherson  splendidly  defeated  Jo- 
seph E.  Johnston,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1863.  The  12th  Iowa  did 
not  get  to  Champion  Hill  soon  enough  to  help  whip  Pemberton,  but, 
with  Sherman,  participated  in  the  two  gallant  charges  on  the  Avorks 
at  Vicksburg,  on  the  18th  and  22d  of  INIay.  Mr.  Steen's  regiment 
was  with  Sherman's  15th  corjjs,  on  the  right.  This  regiment,  with 
others,  was  assigned  to  watch  Johnston  at  Black  River  Bridge,  dur- 
ing part  of  the  siege.     When  the  surrender  took  place,  on  July  4, 

1863,  the  12th  Iowa  was  of  the  troops  which  made  a  dash  after  John- 
ston, and  beat  him  at  Jackson  and  Brandon,  and  sent  him  whirling 
for  safety  beyond  the  Pearl  river. 

The  term  of  enlistment  of  the  gallant  Twelfth  expired  in  January, 

1864,  and  the  men  promptly  enlisted  for  a  second  three  years,  and 
were  then  allowed  to  visit  home  on  a  veteran  furlough.  During  the 
summer  of  1861  the  regiment  was  attached  to  the  Sixteenth  Army 
Corps,  commanded  by  Major  General  A.  J,  Smith,  and  was  engaged 
in  movements  against  Forrest,  in  Tennessee  and  Mississippi.  At  the 
battle  of  Tupelo,  where  there  was  terrific  fighting  for  a  short  time,  he 
lost  the  best  friend  he  ever  had,  Lieut.  Augustus  A.  Burdick,  who  had 
been  as  faithful  to  him  as  a  brother.  This  was  the  saddest  event  of  his 
army  life. 

Mr.  Steen's  regiment   pursued  Price  through  Arkansas  and  Mis- 


52  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN". 

souri,  and  assisted  to  fight  the  battle  of  Pleasant  Hill.  Then  his  com- 
mand hurried  to  Nashville,  and  arrived  just  in  time  to  help  General 
Thomas  fight  the  magnificent  battle  of"  Nashville,  whereby  Hood's 
armv  was  annihilated  and  Thomas's  soldiers  were  covered  with  glory. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  the  12th  Iowa  was  sent  to  Mobile,  Alabama, 
where  it  aided  to  capture  Spanish  Fort,  after  a  hot  fight,  on  the  day 
Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox.  This  ended  the  gallant  battle  career 
of  John  Steen  and  his  company;  but  his  regiment  was  held  at  Selma 
and  Talladiga,  Alabama,  guarding  the  freedmen  from  the  keen  resent- 
ment of  the  Southern  people  until  January,  18G6. 

Mr.  Steen  returned  home  after  the  war,  and  the  Steen  family  was 
justly  honored  because  of  its  six  gallant  veterans.  He  was  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  for  a  few  months,  and  then  was  appointed  dep- 
uty sheriff  of  Winneshiek  county,  Iowa,  and  held  that  position  with 
credit  until  he  removed  to  Nebraska,  in  1869. 

On  coming  to  this  State  he  settled  in  Omaha,  and  was  soon  after- 
ward appointed  registry  and  money-order  clerk  in  the  Omaha  post- 
office.  From  that  position  he  was  promoted  to  postal  clerk  on  the 
Union  Pacific  railroad,  through  the  influence  of  Senator  William  B. 
Allison,  of  Iowa.  He  continued  in  this  service  until  the  spring  of 
1871,  when  he  was  elected  City  Treasurer  of  Omaha.  He  served  two 
terms  of  one  year  each  with  his  usual  faithfulness  and  skill. 

He  then  was  appointed  Clerk  to  the  Chief  Paymaster  of  the  Mil- 
itary Department  of  the  Platte.  This  post  he  resigned  in  1874,  and 
he  then  removed  to  Fremont  to  engage  in  the  lumber  and  agricultural 
implement  business,  in  which  he  was  wholly  successful.  In  1877  he 
took  up  his  residence  at  A\'ahoo  and  entered  the  hardware  trade. 
When  the  State  militia  was  organized  he  became  the  first  captain  of  a 
company  at  Wahoo  belonging  to  the  First  Regiment.  He  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  of  that  place  in  1875,  and  Postoffice  Inspector 
in  1883,  his  division  comprising  Nebraska  and  Wyoming.  In  this 
position  he  was  very,  efficient,  having  been  educated  for  the  work 
wdiile  Deputy  Sheriff  and  by  his  previous  experience  in  the  postal 
service.  He  was  removed  from  this  office  as  an  "offensive  partisan," 
by  the  Democratic  Postmaster  General,  in  1885,  and  then  reengaged 
in  the  hardware  trade  at  Wahoo  until  elected  to  his  ]U'esent  office,  by 
about  28,000  majority,  in  1888. 

Mr.  Steen   was  married  on  Se]>t('n)l)cr    10,   1870,  to   Miss   Marie 


HOy.    JOHN    STEEX,   COMMISSIOXER    OF   PUBLIC   LANDS 
AND   BUILDINGS. 


v^^~\> 


HOX.  JOHN   JENKINS,  COMMISSIONER  OF   LABOK. 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITOEIAL    TIMES.  53 

Louise  Hough,  an  excellent  and  accomplished  lady  of  El  Dorado,  Fay- 
ette county,  Iowa.  They  had  four  children  born  to  them,  and  all  are 
living.  Their  names  are  Nora  Cecelia,  Theron  Hough,  Clarence 
Guido,  and  Mona  Lillian.  The  family  resides  at  Wahoo  at  present, 
where  it  possesses  the  highest  respect  of  the  people. 

There  have  been  eight  Librarians,  Mr.  Kennard  being  the  first  State 
Librarian,  as  follows : 

James  S.  Izard,  March  16,  1855.  j    Robert  S.  Knox,  1861. 
H.  C.  AndersoD.  November  6,  1855.  Thomas  P.  Kennard,  June  22,  1867. 

John  H.  Kellum,  August  3,  1857.  William  H.  Jones,  January  10,  1871. 

Alonzo  D.  Luce,  November  7,  1859.  Guy  A.  Brown,  March  3,  1871. 

Among  the  most  important  of  the  offices  of  the  State  is  that  of  Com- 
missioner of  Labor,  created  by  act  of  the  Legislature  of  1887.  By  this 
act  the  Governor  is  the  named  Commissioner,  (this  being  to  avoid  the 
constitutional  prohibition  against  creating  any  new  office,)  with  power 
to  appoint  a  Deputy,  to  whose  care  the  whole  work  of  the  department 
is  consigned,  and  who  is  recognized  as  the  real  head  of  the  depart- 
ment, the  de  facto  Commissioner  of  Labor.  And  in  selecting  the 
Hon.  John  Jenkins  to  be  the  head  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Labor,  Gov- 
ernor Thayer  showed  excellent  judgment. 

jNIr.  Jenkins  is  descended  from  distinguished  ancestors.  His  grand- 
father was  John  Jenkins,  whose  residence  was  Hengoed,  Wales.  He 
was  a  minister  of  distinction  in  the  Baptist  church,  and  a  college  in 
Pennsylvania  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  D.D.,  about  1850,  on 
account  of  his  learned  works  on  the  Bible.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
commentary  on  the  Bible  which  required  sixteen  years  of  labor  to 
produce.  The  great  work  of  his  life  was  a  religions  allegory  entitled 
the  "  Silver  Palace,"  a  work  somewhat  resembling  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress."  It  was  this  which  won  him  his  theological  title.  He  was 
also  distinguished  as  an  orator.  There  is  no  record  of  Mr.  Jenkin's 
grandmother. 

Mr.  Jenkins's  father  was  also  John  Jenkins.  He  was  also  a  min- 
ister of  distinction  on  account  of  learning  and  intellectual  energy.  He 
was  sent  by  the  Welsh  Society  to  Morlaix,  France,  in  1832,  to  estab- 
lish a  Baptist  Mission.  He  was  the  author  of  various  works  of  a  lit- 
erary and  scientific  character,  and  on  account  of  their  high  merit  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences.     He  died 


54  HISTORY    OF    THP:    city   of    LINCOLN. 

in  France  in  1S73.  Mr.  Jenkins's  mother  was  an  excellent  woman, 
and  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  eleven  of  whom  were  born  in 
France.  Of  these,  Mr.  Jenkins,  the  Commissioner,  Mas  the  fonrth 
child  and  the  third  John  Jenkins  in  direct  succession.  He  was  born 
at  the  Mission  at  Morlaix,  France,  May  25,  1838.  He  spent  his  boy- 
hood there  in  educational  and  industrial  pursuits,  and  was  sent  to 
AValcs  in  1853,  articled  to  become  a  mechanical  engineer,  under  the 
tutelage  of  T.  AV.  Kennard,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Atlantic  &  Great 
AVestern  railway.  In  this  position  Mr.  Jenkins  became  a  skillful 
engineer  and  mechanic  —  in  fact,  a  master  workman. 

In  1861,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  United  States  Mail  Steamship, 
Arago,  running  from  New  York  to  Havre,  of  which  he  was  engineer, 
was  stopped  in  New  York  harbor  because  the  rebel  privateer  Suni])- 
ter  was  on  the  seas,  he  enlisted  in  the  Seventy-first  New  York  In- 
fantry, in  1862,  to  meet  the  rebel  invasion  at  the  time  Banks  was 
driven  out  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  The  regiment  reported  to 
Secretary  of  War  Edwin  M.  Stanton  for  a  three  months'  term.  The 
regiment  was  engaged  in  detailed  service  in  Maryland,  to  prevent 
rebel  recruits  from  passing  from  Maryland  into  Virginia.  Soon  after 
the  term  of  enlistment,  and  subsequent  to  the  second  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  Mr.  Jenkins  returned  to  his  old  work,  mechanical  engineering. 
In  1863,  during  Lee's  raid  into  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Jenkins  again  en- 
listed, this  time  in  the  Forty-fourth  Pennsylvania  Infantry.  His 
regiment  was  mainly  employed  in  defending  Harrisburg  against  the 
advance  of  the  rebel  General  Jenkins,  until  he  left  to  join  Lee  at 
Gettysburg.  Tiien  the  Forty-fourth  pressed  on  to  (iettysburg,  but 
arrived  just  in  time  to  see  the  battle  won  by  the  Union  forces.  His 
regiment  was  mustered  out  after  three  months'  service,  and  Mr.  Jen- 
kins returned  to  New  York  and  resumed  his  occupation  as  a  meciian- 
ical  engineer,  being  mainly  employed  in  the  construction  of  Federal 
monitors.  He  helped  to  build  the  monitors,  Tonwanda,  Susquehanna, 
Lehigh,  and  others. 

After  the  war  his  cfHciency  as  a  mechanical  engineer  called  ]\Ir. 
Jenkins  to  the  oil  regions  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  employed 
ior  a  time  on  the  John  Steele  oil  farm.  J?y  his  skill  he  was  enabled 
to  make  a  fortune  in  eighteen  months'  time,  but  lost  it  all  in  an  equal 
period,  owing  to  the  shrinkage  of  values  M'hich  followed  the  first  ad- 
vance.     He  left  thci'c   pciuiilcss  and    in    ill    hcaltli,  and    his   ])hysician 


NEBRASKA    FROM    TERRITORIAL   TIMES.  55 

recommended  a  trip  on  the  western  plains.  He  made  a  jonrney  over 
the  western  trail  in  1867,  and  had  the  exhilaration  of  fightino'  Indi- 
ans frequently  added  to  that  of  the  fresh  prairie  air.  Daring  this 
trip  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Col.  W.  F.  Cody,  (Buffalo  Bill,) 
who  was  scouting  for  General  Custer.  He  also  met  Generals  Custer 
and  Hancock  during  the  trip,  they  being  west  looking  after  the  In- 
dian warfare  then  in  progress.  On  one  occasion  one  wagon  was  cap- 
tured by  the  Indians  which  contained  everything  of  value  possessed 
by  Mr.  Jenkins.  So  he  arrived  in  Denver  in  better  health  but  with 
a  low  state  of  finances.  He  worked  in  Denver,  then  a  mere  villaoe, 
for  a  while,  and  during  the  same  year  returned  to  Omaha,  where  he 
had  the  pleasure  of  assisting  to  build  the  first  stationary  engine  ever 
manufactured  in  Nebraska,  in  the  shop  of  Hall  Brothers.  From 
Omaha  he  went  to  work  at  his  trade  on  the  Erie  &  Susquehanna 
Railroad,  and  a  fe\Y  months  later  became  connected  with  the  Panama 
Company,  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama;  this  was  in  1869.  He  spent 
two  and  one-half  years  on  the  Isthmus,  two  of  which  he  was  foreman 
of  the  shops  there.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  was  called  to  Peru 
to  assist  in  the  mechanical  department  of  the  railroad  Henry  Meigs 
was  constructing  in  that  country.  From  1872  to  1875  he  was  con- 
nected with  this  road,  and  assisted  to  construct  Avater  works  at  Iqui- 
Cjue,  and  salt  petre  works  at  Pampanegoro.  He  concluded  his  Avork 
in  Peru  by  driving  a  tunnel  for  Mr.  Meigs,  on  the  Oroya  railroad, 
at  a  height  of  13,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  during  which  he 
invented  a  new  way  of  boring  with  diamond  drills. 

From  Peru  he  returned  to  the  United  States  and  went  to  the  mining 
regions  of  Nevada  to  introduce  his  diamond  drill,  but  received  such 
illiberal  inducements  that  he  abandoned  the  project,  and  entered  the 
office  of  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Union  Mills  and  Mining  Company, 
of  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  where  he  remained  until,  by  the  death  of 
Mr.  Ralston,  the  company  was  found  to  be  intimately  connected  with 
the  Bank  of  California,  which,  being  deeply  involved,  caused  the 
mines  to  change  hands. 

Mr.  Jenkins  then  came  east  and  engaged  with  the  C.  B.  &  Q.  rail- 
road company,  in  1877,  expecting  to  return  to  South  America;  but  the 
course  of  his  life  was  changed  by  meeting  the  lady  in  Council  Bluffs 
who  became  his  wife.  This  was  Miss  Alice  M.  Canning,  to  whom 
he  was  married  in  June  of  1878.     Mr.  Jenkins  worked  for  the  C.  B. 


56  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

&  Q.  in  various  capacities,  being  employed  at  one  time  as  draughts- 
man, at  Aurora,  Illinois,  under  G.  M.  Stone,  now  general  manager  of 
the  road.  Owing  to  rheumatism,  he  had  to  resign  a  position  in  the 
service  of  the  Atlantic  &  Pacific  railroad  company,  and  coming  west 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  in  the  fall  of  1882. 
He  worked  three  months  at  the  bench,  and  then  entered  their  offices  as 
one  of  their  mechanical  engineers,  Avhere  he  remained  until  appointed 
by  James  E.  Boyd,  though  a  Republican,  to  the  position  of  boiler  in- 
spector for  the  city  of  Omaha.  This  was  in  188(i.  "ttiis  position  he 
held,  with  credit  to  himself,  until  appointed  Commissioner  of  the 
Bureau  of  Labor  by  Governor  Thayer,  in  1887. 

Through  his  eventful  career  Mr.  Jenkins  has  come  to  understand 
very  thoroughly  the  relations  that  should  govern  employers  and  em- 
ployes. He  is  a  prominent  representative  of  the  labor  organizations 
of  the  day,  and  is  a  worthy  man  in  the  place,  for  he  teaches  just  prin- 
ciples, intended  to  be  thoroughly  fair  to  employer  and  employed.  He 
urges  workingmen  to  be  fair  to  employers,  so  that  they  can  insist 
upon  just  treatment  themselves.  He  favors  patriotism,  peace,  and 
obedience  to  law.  When  anarchism  was  flauntingly  and  menacingly 
rampant  in  1877,  at  the  suggestion  of  Julius  Meyers  Mr.  Jenkins 
led  in  the  preparation  of  a  grand  labor  demonstration  on  the  4th  of 
July,  in  the  city  of  Omaha,  with  the  purpose  of  showing  that  labor 
organizations  are  loyal  to  the  flag,  and  are  not  in  sympathy  with  an- 
archy, and  allow  no  ensign  to  be  carried  in  their  processions  but  the 
flag  of  the  United  States.  This  demonstration  had  8,000  men  in  line,, 
and  was  conducted  in  perfect  good  order. 

Mr.  Jenkins  distinguished  himself  in  Omaha  as  an  advocate  of  free 
education  and  free  text  books ;  and  so  effectively  did  he  lead  the 
workingmen  in  the  contest  with  the  school  board  that  the  board  was 
compelled  to  adopt  the  free-text-book  system  in  the  Omaha  schools, 
which  the  city  now  enjoys,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  general  edu- 
cation of  the  masses. 

As  Commissioner  of  Labor  Mr.  Jenkins  is  makino;  a  marked  sue- 
cess.  The  last  Legislature  was  highly  pleased  with  his  report,  and 
commissioned  him  to  inquire  into  the  feasibility  of  beet-sugar  culture 
in  Nebraska,  which  he  is  now  giving  a  thorough  investigation. 

His  family  consists  of  Mrs.  Jenkins,  a  daughter,  Millie  Maud,  and 
a  son,  John  I>cnjamiii.      He  has  a  comfortable  property  at  Omaha. 


Nebraska's  resources.  5T 


CHAPTER   lA^. 

Nebraska's  Resources — Her  Development  from  the  "Great  American" 
Desert  "— Topography,  Climate,  Soil,  etc.— Comparisons  With" 
Other  States— The  Field  Lincoln  Possesses. 

Less  than  thirty  years  ago  the  words,  "  Great  American  Desert," 
were  printed  in  large  capitals  on  nearly  all  maps  representing  the 
western  half  of  Nebraska  and  adjacent  territory.  Less  than  ten  year& 
ago  a  really  wise  editor  of  Iowa  gravely  announced  in  his  paper  that 
farming,  west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian,  could  not  be  carried  on 
successfully  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas.  These  opinions  are  part  of  the 
candid  belief  of  their  time,  and  are  standard  humor  in  Nebraska  at 
this  time.  The  hundredth  meridian  passes  through  Keya  Paha 
Brown,  Blaine,  Custer,  Dawson,  Gosper,  and  Furnas  counties;  and 
millions  of  bushels  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  potatoes,  and  other  farm 
products,  are  annually  produced  in  Box  Butte,  Cheyenne,  Arthur 
Keith,  Lincoln,  Frontier,  Red  Willow,  Chase,  Hayes,  Dundy,  Hitch- 
cock, and  other  counties  Avest  of  that  ancient  geographical  dead  line. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  farm  animals  are  supported  in  that  region^ 
Many  bright  cities  and  towns  are  building  up  there,  and  railways^ 
have  penetrated  nearly  every  part  of  that  much-libeled  territory ,. 
The  development  of  Western  Nebraska  has  only  fairly  set  in,  and  it  is- 
not  beyond  the  power  of  any  ordinary  citizen  of  the  State  to  certainly 
predict  that  within  ten  years  the  western  half  of  Nebraska  will  be* 
a  populous,  rich,  and  thriving  empire,  nearly  five  times  the  area  of 
Massachusetts,  and  more  than  thirty  times  as  productive  of  King 
corn. 

The  growth  of  Nebraska  in  population,  wealth,  schools,  churches,, 
and  general  improvements,  has  not  been  surpassed,  probably  not 
equaled,  by  any  equivalent  area  on  the  globe,  in  the  past  ten  years, 
and  she  now  ranks  as  one  of  the  great  States  of  the  L^nion.  Her 
real  merits  will  not  be  appreciated  by  the  country  at  large  until  after- 
the  next  census  is  reported,  when  it  will  be  admitted  that  she  i.s< 
5 


58  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

swiftly  moving  to  a  position  beside  the  richest  agricultural  and  com- 
mercial States  of  the  Nation. 

The  State  of  Nebraska  is  situated  between  40°  and  43°  north  lat- 
itude, and  long.  95°  25'  and  104°  west  from  Greenwich.  The  length 
of  the  State  is  about  four  hundred  and  twenty  miles  east  and  west,  the 
width  about  two  hundred  and  eight  miles,  north  and  south.  The 
area  is  76,855  square  miles,  or  49,187,200  acres.  It  is  the  eighth  State 
in  the  Union  in  size,  not  considering  Montana,  not  yet  fully  admitted. 
The  topography  of  the  State  is  made  up  of  rolling  prairie,  table  land, 
and  valleys,  with  a  small  percentage  of  bluff  land,  or  high  rolling 
surface.  The  State  is  devoid  of  mountains,  possesses  few  lakes,  and 
is  practically  without  swamps.  The  prairie  is  as  beautiful  as  any  in 
the  world,  and  comprises  about  fifty  per  cent  of  the  whole  area ;  the 
table  lands  are  really  high  prairies,  terraced,  and  make  about  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  area.  The  valleys  are  generally  low,  level  prairies, 
and,  perhaps,  make  up  nearly  twenty  per  cent  of  the  surface,  while 
the  high,  rolling  and  bluff  portion  may  be  estimated  at  about  ten 
per  cent.  There  is  a  gradual  slope  from  the  west  end  of  the  State  to 
the  Missouri  river,  causing  the  three  })rincipal  rivers,  the  Niobrara, 
Platte,  and  Republican,  to  take  nearly  an  easterly  course.  The  prin- 
cipal tributaries  of  the  Niobrara,  which  is  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
State,  flow  northward;  those  of  the  Platte,  which  occupies  the  lower 
central  portion  of  the  State,  flow  to  the  southeast,  and  the  branches 
of  the  Republican,  which  has  its  course  along  the  south  side  of  the 
State  until  it  passes  into  Kansas,  in  Nuckolls  county,  also  run  in 
a  southeasterly  direction.  A  glance  at  the  river  system  of  Nebraska 
will  give  an  idea  of  the  general  topography  of  the  State.  The  Loup 
river  is  a  tributary  of  the  PJatte,  on  the  north  side,  and,  with  its 
branches,  drains  and  waters  nearly  all  of  the  north  center  of  the 
State.  The  Eikhorn  river  is  also  a  considerable  stream,  flowing  south- 
easterly across  the  northeast  corner  of  the  State,  and  meeting  the 
Platte  about  thirty-five  miles  from  its  confluence  with  the  INIissouri 
river.  The  Blue  river  takes  its  rise  within  five  miles  of  the  Platte, 
and  flows  in  a  southeasterly  course  through  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  State,  and  empties  into  the  Republican  river,  in  Eastern  Kansas, 
This  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  streams  in  the  State.  All  three 
streams  were  fringed  with  timber  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  State's 
history,  and   much   of  this  yet  remains.      Along  the  Niobrara  the 


NEBRASKA  S    RESOURCES.  59 

trees  were  pine,  cedar,  ash,  oak,  walnut,  and  such  varieties  as  grow 
with  these.  In  the  western  canons  there  was  and  is  yet  fine  cedar 
timber.  Along  the  easterly  and  southerly  streams  there  were  Cot- 
tonwood, oak,  hickory,  elm,  maple,  ash,  locust,  willow,  box  elder, 
linn,  hackberry,  sycamore,  mulberry,  coffee-bean,  and  ironwood. 
There  are  fifty  species  of  forest  trees  in  Nebraska.  Blackberry,  goose- 
berry and  other  shrubs  grow  luxuriantly,  and  nearly  all  kinds  of 
ordinary  fruit  trees  are  found  in  the  orchards  of  the  State.  Almost 
every  farmer  has  a  grove  of  maples,  cottonwood,  wahuit,  or  other 
trees  which  he  planted,  and  in  a  few  3'ears  fuel  enough  for  use  can  be 
grown  in  almost  any  part  of  the  State.  The  cultivation  of  groves  of 
forest  trees  has  been  greatly  encouraged  by  the  establishment  of  "Ar- 
bor Day,"  a  holiday  conceived  by  Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton,  of  Ne- 
braska City,  and  devoted  by  the  people  to  planting  trees.  This  day 
is  now  made  the  subject  of  a  general  proclamation  by  the  Governor 
every  year. 

The  planting  of  trees  and  cultivation  of  the  soil  has  made  Nebraska 
a  State  of  very  equable  climate.  Drouth  very  seldom  visits  the  State. 
Rains  come  with  almost  perfect  timeliness  in  the  State  generally,  and 
tornadoes  are  scarcely  ever  known.  This  seems  strange,  and  is,  in  fact, 
a  phenomenon  of  nature;  but  it  is  true  that  while  the  face  of  Kansas 
is  raked  from  end  to  end  by  the  most  terrific  storms,  and  while  Mis- 
souri, Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Dakota,  are  frequently  devastated  in 
places,  Nebraska  has  scarcely  ever  known  a  genuine  tornado.  The 
atmosphere  is  dry  and  invigorating,  and  such  diseases  as  consumption 
are  little  known.  The  mean  average  temperature  during  1888  was 
49°  Fahrenheit.  The  winters  are  not  severely  cold,  and  the  summers 
are  not  oppressively  hot.  The  climate  is  both  favorable  to  human 
health,  the  growth  of  farm  animals,  and  agricultural  products  of  all 
kinds.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Nebraska  has  had  excellent 
crops  for  three  years  past,  while  States  and  Territories  on  all  sides 
have  suffered  from  drouth  during  the  same  period.  The  reason  for 
this  favorable  condition  of  climate  is  owing,  probably,  to  permanent 
natural  causes,  based  on  the  topography  of  the  Missouri  A^alley,  and 
the  location  of  the  State  with  reference  to  the  meeting  of  the  hot  and 
cold  currents  of  air  from  south  and  north. 

But  the  soil  of  Nebraska  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  stand  drouth  or 
heavy  rainfall.     This  is  true  of  every  part  of  the  State.     To  show 


60 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


the  remarkable  houKtgenity  of  the  soil  of  various  sections  of  Ne- 
braska, we  will  quote  the  figures  of  an  analysis  of  soil  taken  from 
the  counties  of  Douglas,  Buffalo,  Loup,  Clay,  and  Harlan,  represent- 
ing the  eastern,  central,  northern,  and  southern  parts  of  the  State. 
The  columns  represent  the  counties  in  the  order  named : 


COMPOSITION  OF  SOIL. 

1. 

2, 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Insoluble  (^silicious)  matter 
Ferric  oxide 

81.28 
3.86 

.75 
6.07 
3.58 
1.29 

.27 

.15 
1.07 
1.09 

.59 

81.32 
3.87 

.75 
6.06 
3.59 
1.28 

.29 

.16 
1,06 
1.08 

.54 

81.35 
3.83 

.74 
6.03 
3.58 
1.31 

.35 

.14 
1.05 
1.09 

.53 

81.30 
3.85 

.73 
6.05 
3.57 
1.31 

.34 

.16 
1.06 
1.08 

.55 

81.32 
3.86 

.74 

Lime,  carbouate 

Lime,  phosphate 

Magnesia,  carbonate 

Potassa 

6.09 

3.59 

1.29 

.33 

Soda 

Organic  matter 

.16 
1.06 
1.09 

Lost  in  analysis 

.47 

Totals 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

This  analysis  was  made  by  Prof.  Samuel  Aughey,  of  the  Nebraska 
State  University,  and  is  of  soil  taken  from  the  high  prairies  and  ta- 
ble lands.  It  is  of  the  lacustrine  or  loess  deposit,  and  is  unsurpassed 
for  agricultural  purposes.  Speaking  of  the  foregoing  analysis  Prof. 
Aughey  says :  ''  From  the  above  it  is  seen  that  over  eighty  per  cent 
of  this  formation  is  silicious  matter,  and  so  finely  comminuted  is  it 
that  the  grains  can  only  be  seen  under  a  good  microscope.  So  abun- 
dant are  the  carbonates  and  phosphates  of  lime,  that  in  many  places 
they  form  peculiar  rounded  and  oval  concretions.  Vast  numbers  of 
these  concretions,  from  the  size  of  a  shot  to  a  walnut,  are  found  al- 
most everywhere  Ijy  turning  over  the  sod  and  in  excavations.  The 
analysis  shows  the  presence  of  a  comparatively  large  amount  of  iron, 
besides  alumina,  soda,  and  potash. 

"As  would  be  expected  from  its  elements,  it  forms  one  of  the  rich- 
est and  most  tillable  soils  in  the  world.  In  fact,  in  its  chemical  and 
physical  properties,  and  the  mode  of  its  origin,  it  comes  nearest  to  the 
loess  of  the  E-hine  and  the  Valley  of  Egypt.  It  can  never  be  ex- 
hausted until  every  hill  and  valley  which  composes  it  is  entirely  worn 
away.  Owing  to  the  wonderfully  finely  comminuted  silica,  of  which 
the  bulk  of  the  deposit  consists,  it  possesses  natural  drainage  in  the 
highest  degree.     However  great  the  fioods  of  water  that  fall,  it  soon 


Nebraska's  resources.  61 

percolates  through  this  soil,  which,  in  its  lowest  depths,  retains  it  like 
a  sponge.  AVhen  drouths  come,  by  capillary  attraction  the  moisture 
comes  up  from  below,  supplying  the  needs  of  vegetation  in  the  dry- 
est  season.  This  is  the  reason  why,  all  over  this  region  where  this 
deposit  prevails,  the  native  vegetation  and  cultivated  crops  are  seldom 
either  dried  or  drowned  out.  This  is  especially  the  case  on  old  break- 
ing and  where  deep  plowing  is  practiced.  This  deposit  is  a  paradise 
for  all  the  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone.  They  luxuriate  in  a  soil  like 
this,  which  has  perfect  natural  drainage,  and  is  composed  of  such 
materials." 

About  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  soil  of  Nebraska  is  of  this  won- 
derfully perfect  kind  for  the  production  of  grains,  fruits,  vegetables, 
and  other  vegetation.  This  soil  ranges  in  thickness  from  five  to  two 
hundred  feet. 

The  river  valleys  generally  possess  a  soil  of  alluvium  deposits, 
which  is  rich,  like  the  upland  or  lacustrine  soil,  and  differs  from 
it  in  possessing  less  silica  and  a  greater  percentage  of  organic  matter 
and  alumina.  This  soil  varies  from  two  to  twenty  feet  in  depth,  often 
has  an  understratum  of  sand,  and  is  generally  dry  and  warm,  though 
it  at  times  and  in  places  becomes  cold  and  wet,  and  is  not  always  good 
for  farming  purposes.  These  valleys  produce  almost  unrivaled  crops 
of  vegetables  and  corn,  and,  perhaps,  not  as  good  wheat,  oats,  and 
fruits,  as  the  high  rolling  lands.  Both  soils  are  valued  very  highly 
by  farmers,  and  are  scarcely  surpassed  in  the  world  for  reliability  and 
abundance  of  yield. 

There  are  a  few  alkaline  spots  in  the  central  portions  of  the  State, 
and  somewhat  larger  areas  in  the  western  part.  But  all  told,  there  is 
not  enough  to  merit  any  special  mention. 

With  such  a  splendid  wealth  of  soil,  it  might  be  expected  that  Ne- 
braska's farms  Avould  prosper,  her  population  increase  rapidly ;  that 
railroad  mileage  would  multiply  with  great  activity,  and  manufac- 
tories come  swiftly  into  existence. 

The  facts  will  justify  all  these  deductions;  and  a  swiftly-growing 
State  always  attracts  the  best  people :  and  so  schools,  newspapers,  and 
churches,  have  multiplied  in  Nebraska.  Located  in  the  center  of  the 
temperate  region  of  this  continent,  it  becomes  the  theater  for  the  high- 
ways and  cross-roads  of  the  "Belt  of  Empire"  of  the  world.  The 
city  of  Lincoln  is  nearly  in  the  geographical  center  of  the   United 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

States,  and  the  growth  of  the  State  and  her  capital  have  both  been 
the  marvel  of  the  past  two  decades. 

The  growth  of  population  shows  that  Nebraska  has  genuine  merits. 
There  were  122,993  people  in  the  State  in  1870.  In  less  than  nine- 
teen years  1,100,000  more  have  been  added,  an  average  annual  growth 
of  61,000  for  the  entire  time.  Texas,  with  nearly  three  and  one-half 
times  the  area  of  Nebraska,  and  twenty-one  years  the  start  as  a  State, 
only  gained  at  the  rate  of  98,000  population  annually,  or  but  a  little 
over  28,000  per  year  for  the  same  territory  that  Nebraska  possesses. 
Minnesota,  with  nearly  nine  years  the  start  as  a  State,  and  nearly 
seven  thousand  more  square  miles  of  area,  has  only  made  about  even 
figures  with  Nebraska  since  1870.  It  is  probably  fair  to  say  that  but 
two  States  have  made  such  splendid  progress  in  population  since  1870 
as  Nebraska.  One  is  Iowa,  probably  without  an  equal  in  the  Union, 
area  and  age  considered,  but  with  twenty -two  years  the  start  of  Ne- 
braska as  a  State;  and  Kansas,  with  much  the  same  natural  advan- 
tages as  Nebraska,  and  with  over  five  thousand  more  square  miles  of 
area,  and  six  years  the  lead  in  admission  as  a  State.  So  Nebraska  has 
made  a  very  creditable  race  with  the  best  States  in  the  Union  in  attract- 
ing home-seekers. 

Now,  how  has  the  soil  of  Nebraska  supported  the  high  opinion  of 
scientific  analysis  and  the  confidence  of  the  armies  of  people  who  an- 
nually cast  their  lot  wnthin  the  State's  borders?  In  1880  Illinois 
produced  326,000,000  bushels  of  corn.  (Round  numbers  are  used  in  all 
these  illustrations.)  Iowa  produced  275,000,000  the  same  year;  Kan- 
sas, 105,000,000;  Nebraska,  65,000,000.  In  1888  Illinois  harvested 
278,000,000  bushels  of  corn;  Iowa,  278,000,000  bushels;  Kansas, 
158,000,000  ;  and  Nebraska,  144,000,000.  Here  it  will  be  seen  that 
Illinois  did  not  maintain  her  record,  Iowa  gained  a  very  small  per- 
centage, Kansas  improved  her  record  by  a  little  over  fifty  per  cent, 
and  Nebraska  leaped  forward  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  per  cent.  Here  Nebraska  soil  meets  and  overmatches  the  giants 
in  her  rate  of  progress.  It  will  be  found  that  the  percentage  of  suc- 
cesses of  the  corn  crop  in  Nebraska  will  be  equally  as  favorable  as  her 
growth  in  number  of  bushels. 

The  year  1888  was  not  generally  favorable  to  a  wheat  crop  in  the 
States  named  above,  but  the  remarkable  power  of  Nebraska  soil  to 
endure  unfavorable  seasons  was  manifested,  though  there  was  really 


Nebraska's  resources. 


63 


nothing  approaching  a  drouth  here,  as  known  in  other  States.  The 
striking  superiority  of  Nebraska  soil  and  climate  is  shown  in  the  sub- 
joined table  comparing  the  wheat  crops  of  1880  and  1888  in  Illinois, 
Iowa,  Kansas,  and  Nebraska.  Nebraska  was  the  only  one  of  these 
cereal-producing  States  that  made  progress  on  the  record  of  1880. 
Here  is  the  exhibit  of  that  fact,  taken  from  the  tenth  census  and  report 
of  the  Washington  Bureau  of  Agriculture  for  1888  : 


STATES. 

1880. 
Bushels. 

1888. 
Bushels. 

Per  cent  of 
f/ain  or  loss. 

Illinois 

51,000,000 
31,000,000 
17,325,000 
13,850,000 

34,000,000 
24,000,000 
16,000,000 
14,500,000 

Lo«s   33^ 

Iowa 

Loss,  22^. 

Kansas 

Nebraska 

Gain   4  3-5 

In  a  similar  way  it  can  be  shown  that  Nebraska  is  in  the  front  rank 
of  the  world's  most  progressive  States  in  the  production  of  oats,  hay, 
potatoes,  and  other  farm  grains  and  vegetables.  It  can  also  be  de- 
monstrated that  the  numbers,  grade,  and  value  of  her  horses,  hogs,  and 
cattle,  are  going  forward  with  the  very  best  States  of  the  Union.  In 
fact,  the  climate  of  this  State  is  very  favorable  to  the  health  and  growth 
of  domestic  animals. 

And  it  will  be  found  by  the  census  of  1880  that  the  manufacturing 
interests  of  Nebraska  have  increased  several  hundred  j^ercent  in  mag- 
nitude; in  fact,  are  moving  forward  with  her  other  and  diversified 
interests. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1865,  there  was  not  a  mile  of  railroad 
in  Nebraska.  At  this  time,  July,  1889,  twenty-three  and  one-half 
years  later,  there  are  about  5,000  miles  in  operation  in  the  State. 
There  has  been  an  increase  in  mileage  of  over  eighty-one  per  cent  in 
four  years.  The  gross  earnings  of  Nebraska  roads  in  1887  were  .$23,- 
446,343,  and  the  net  earnings  were  $10,571,858. 

Popular  intelligence  and  enlightenment  generally  follow  rich  soil 
combined  with  favorable  climate.  Hence  the  many  schools  and  nu- 
merous fine  churches  of  Nebraska  are  one  proof  of  her  great  natural 
resources.  By  the  census  of  1880  Nebraska  had  the  lowest  percentage 
of  illiteracy  of  any  State  in  the  Union,  and  Wyoming  Territory  alone 
had  a  better  record  in  all  the  United  States.  The  following  table  will 
show  this,  the  States  and  Territories  there  exhibited  having  the  low- 


€4 


HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINXOLX. 


€st  rate  of  illiteracy  in  this  Nation,  and  being,  probably,  unequaled  in 
the  world : 


STATES,  ETC. 


Wyoming  Territory. 

T^ebraska 

Iowa 

Dakota 

Kansas 


Fer  cent     Per  cent 

unable  to    unable  to 

read.  tvrite. 


2.6 
2.5 
2.4 
3.1 
3.6 


3.4 
3.6 
3.9 

48 
5.6 


A verage 
illiteracy. 


3.00 
3.05 
3.15 
3.95 
4.60 


We  belies^e  that  leading  educators  of  this  State  now  calculate  that 
Nebraska  has  improved  her  record  since  1880,  and  stands  at  the  very 
head  of  all  States  in  the  world  in  freedom  from  illiteracy. 

At  the  close  of  1888  there  were  5,187  school  houses  in  Nebraska, 
•or  sixty-five  (nearly)  to  each  of  the  eighty  organized  counties.  These 
•were  attended  by  215,889  children  during  the  year,  and  this  army  of 
children  were  instructed  by  9,886  teachers.  The  Mages  paid  teachers 
for  the  school  year  ending  in  1888  amounted  to  $1,699,784,  or  a  sum 
^qual  (nearly)  to  all  money  paid  out  for  educational  purposes  in  Ala- 
bama, Florida,  and  Georgia,  put  together,  for  1886-7.  Besides  the 
wages  of  teachers,  the  State  spent  enough  on  her  common  schools,  for 
the  year  ending  in  the  summer  of  1888,  to  make  a  total  cost  of 
$3,238,442,  an  amount  not  exceeded  by  over  fourteen  States  in  the 
Union.  The  total  value  of  public-school  property  in  the  State  for  the 
same  date  was  $5,123,180.  Besides  these  public  schools,  there  are 
now  probably  ten  colleges  in  Nebraska,  two  having  been  added  to 
Lincoln  alone  since  the  last  report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
•of  Education.  In  these  higher  schools  there  were,  it  is  fair  to  esti- 
mate, fully  1,500  students  during  the  year  which  closed  in  June,  1889, 
taught  ])y  about  100  instructors,  and  jwsscssing  libraries  aggregating 
probably  25,000  volumes.  These  institutions  j)ossess  buildings  and 
grounds  worth,  together,  about  $1,000,000.  Such  are  some  of  the 
evidences  of  educational  growth  in  a  State  which  did  not  po.s.se.ss  an 
academy  in  1870,  and  employed  but  536  teachers  at  that  date  in  her 
public  schools.     The  churches  have  grown  as  rapidly  as  the  schools. 

We  have  given  these  statistics  and  estimates  to  suggest  the  real 
wealth  and  greatness  of  Nebraska  as  it  is  to  be  in  a  few  years.  It  has 
been  such  a  few  years  since  the  buffalo  and  antelope  roamed  over  the 


Nebraska's  resources.  65 

ground  where  the  State  Capitol  stands,  that  even  our  own  people  have 
not  come  to  realize  the  swift  progress  our  State  is  making  in  gath- 
ering population,  wealth,  and  facilities  for  mental  culture;  and  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi  are  positively  incredulous  that  such  almost 
miraculous  results  can  be  realities.  But  they  are,  as  we  have  shown, 
and  it  is  but  just  that  the  merits  of  this  noble  State  shall  be  properly 
appreciated  now. 

When  we  see  how  the  State  of  Nebraska  has  moved  forward,  it  is 
easy  to  explain  the  wonderful  growth  of  her  capital,  Lincoln,  which 
is  declared  a  marvel  by  intelligent  people  even  within  the  State,  and 
is  incomprehensible  to  men  of  the  Eastern  States.  The  city  is  merely 
moving  with  the  farms,  the  railroads,  and  the  factories.  The  multi- 
plication of  farms  explains  it.  The  wealth  of  grain,  stock,  and  other 
products  within  her  trade  limits  shows  why  the  city  grows.  Her  rail- 
road system  comprises  twelve  roads,  radiating  like  the  spokes  of  a 
wheel  to  every  section  of  Nebraska's  noble  domain,  and  also  piercing 
Dakota,  Wyoming,  Montana,  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  and  Kansas, 
tind,  with  their  connections,  supplying  Lincoln  with  a  direct  territo- 
rial patronage  fully  double  the  area  of  Nebraska,  or  154,000  square 
miles,  ecpial  to  nearly  100,000,000  acres,  or  over  600,000  farms  of 
160  acres  each.  Here  is  a  trade  of  1,000  towns,  representing  now 
fully  2,000,000  people,  and  the  same  area  will,  within  ten  years,  pos- 
sess 4,000,000  people,  or  more. 

The  corn  and  wheat  alone  of  this  territory  were  worth  $44,000,000 
last  year.  The  oats,  hay,  potatoes,  horses,  cattle,  and  hogs,  were  worth 
twice  as  much  more.  So  that  the  buying  power  of  the  territory  in 
review  was  more  than  $125,000,000  last  year,  without  counting  the 
products  of  wool,  butter,  cheese,  fruit,  timber,  vegetables,  minerals, 
and  manufactures.  Here  is  a  magnificent  jobbing  trade  that  must  be 
attended  to.  Lincoln  divides  Northeast  Nebraska  with  Omaha,  but  is 
on  shorter  lines  to  Central  Nebraska  and  all  the  South  Platte  country 
than  Omaha.  Lincoln  divides  with  St.  Joseph  and  Kansas  City  in 
Southeastern  Nebraska,  and  is  on  shorter  lines  to  South-central  Ne- 
braska, Northern  Kansas,  and  Eastern  Colorado,  than  either.  Omaha 
is  cut  off  on  the  north  by  Sioux  City,  on  the  south  by  St.  Joseph,  and 
on  the  southwest  and  west  by  Lincoln,  Avhich  has  actually  the  same 
in-tariff  as  Omaha,  St.  Joseph,  and  Kansas  City.  Hence,  for  jobbing 
and  distributing  manufactures,  the  future  of  Lincoln  is  fully  equal  to 


66  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

that  of  Omaha,  and  it  is  a  possibility  that  may  yet  be  realized,  that 
Lincoln  will  ontstrip  Omaha,  on  account  of  commercial  superiority^ 
This  is  a  possibility  of  the  next  twenty-five  years.  To  supply  this, 
commercial  empire,  there  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  reason  why  Lin- 
coln's jobbing  trade  should  grow ;  and  it  has  grown,  there  being  sixty- 
eight  wholesale  houses  in  the  city  now,  and  four  hundred  traveling 
men  make  Lincoln  their  home.  Lincoln's  jobbing  trade  will  require 
her  to  grow  for  fifty  years  to  come,  at  least.  For  the  same  reason, 
Lincoln's  manufacturing  interests  require  her  to  grow.  There  is  call 
for  vast  supplies  of  all  ordinary  manufactures,  and  this  city  must  grow 
to  keep  up  with  this  demand.  In  keeping  with  this  demand,  seventy 
factories  are  now  operated  in  Lincoln.  On  this  account  alone  there 
will  be  a  call  for  a  city  larger  than  Ijincoln  at  the  hub  of  the  main 
railroad  system  of  this  splendid  territory.  Then,  the  railroad  in- 
terests of  Lincoln  require  a  city  at  this  place,  and  those  who  think 
Lincoln  will  stop  growing  should  remember  one  fact,  namely  :  the  rail- 
way system  of  Nebraska  is  cast  for  all  time  in  favor  of  Lincoln;  and 
instead  of  the  city  failing,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  on  this  ac- 
count alone  reliance  may  be  placed  for  long-continued  advancement. 
The  roads  have  reason  to  push  the  city,  and  they  will  do  so.  Here 
are  three  great  universities,  calling  in  many  who  desire  to  educate,  and 
who  spend  large  sums,  in  the  aggregate,  to  the  inspiration  of  trade. 
Here  is  the  capitol  and  three  State  institutions,  amalgamating  the  in- 
terests of  the  State  with  those  of  this  city.  Here  is  a  center  for  beef 
and  pork  packing,  and  we  find  two  large  packing  houses  with  grow- 
ing businesses,  and  a  town  springing  up  on  their  account  alone.  In 
brief,  there  are  all  the  diversified  commercial  demands  for  a  supply 
and  distributing  metropolis  here  that  the  swift  development  of  a  ter- 
ritory of  almost  unlimited  resources  could  require.  With  her  intelli- 
gent, enterprising,  and  persistently  energetic  people,  the  wonder  is  not 
that  Lincoln  grows  with  phenomenal  momentum,  but  whether  the 
city  could  stop  growing  if  it  so  desired.  It  must  grow;  it  will  grow. 
The  buildings  erected  during  1888,  with  permanent  imj)rovements, 
amounted  to  So, 287, 418.  From  raw  prairie  in  LSG7,  the  progress  of 
I^iiicohi  for  twenty-two  years  has  been  about  2,o00  population  on  an 
average  for  every  year  of  that  period.  I^ast  year  her  growth  was 
7,000  people.  At  the  rate  tiie  city  is  now  advancing,  and  has  gone 
forward  for  several  years,  it  will  contain  125,000  inhabitants  before 
the  close  of  the  next  decade. 


EARLY   SETTLEMENT    OF    LANCASTER   COUNTY.  67 


CHAPTER  V. 

Lancaster  County— Its  Eaeliest  Settlement  and  Growth— Incidents 
OF  THE  Early  Times — The  Prominent  Men  who  Braved  the  Dan- 
gers OF  the  Wilderness. 

To  write  the  history  of  Lincoln  comprehensively,  Lancaster  county, 
of  which  Lincoln  is  the  seat  of  government,  must  be  touched  upon 
more  or  less  extensively.  It  is  a  fundamental,  a  preparatory  step, 
absolutely  necessary  to  be  taken.  Hence  the  preceding  pages,  touch- 
ing briefly  upon  the  history  of  the. whole  State  of  Nebraska,  are  log- 
ically followed  by  a  resume  of  the  history  of  the  county,  to  be  followed 
in  turn  by  the  history  of  the  city  proper. 

It  is  agreed  by  all  that  the  first  white  man  to  take  up  his  residence 
in  Lancaster  county  came  here  in  the  spring  of  1856 — thirty-three 
years  ago.  John  Dee,  who  lives  near  AVaverly,  disputes  with  John 
W.  Prey,  of  Lincoln,  the  honor  of  being  the  first  white  settler  in  the 
county.  These  two  men  arrived  at  nearly  the  same  time,  and  settled 
in  different  parts  of  the  county,  ]\Ir.  Prey  settling  on  Salt  creek.  The 
authors  of  this  work  held  a  long  and  very  interesting  talk  with  JNIr. 
Prey,  one  evening  during  the  early  part  of  June,  1889,  and  from  him 
gained  many  of  the  points  given  hereafter. 

Being  one  of  the  earliest,  if  not  the  earliest  settler,  to  make  his  per- 
manent home  in  Lancaster  county,  a  few  words  regarding  Mr.  Prey 
will  be  of  interest  to  the  readers  of  this  book.  John  W.  Prey  was 
born  in  New  York  City,  May  11,  1828,  his  father,  John  D.  Prey, 
being  in  business  in  the  city  at  that  time.  When  John  W.  was  only 
four  or  five  years  of  age  his  father  moved  from  New  York  City  to 
the  western  part  of  the  State,  where  he  resided  until  John  jr.  Avas 
fourteen  years  of  age.  In  the  year  1842  the  Prey  family  left  New 
York  for  the  West,  stopping  one  winter  in  Illinois,  and  from  there 
going  to  Wisconsin,  where  they  resided  until  the  spring  of  1856,  the 
family  residence  being  a  farm  seventeen  miles  north  of  jNIilwaukee. 
During  the  residence  of  the  Preys  in  Western  New  York  and  in  Wis- 


■68  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITV   OF    LINCOLN. 

ooiisin,  John  W.,  with  liis  brothers,  worked  at  farming,  and  built  up 
a  constitution  which  enabled  liini  to  pass  through  the  hardshi})s  of 
pioneer  life  in  two  States,  and  still  retain  almost  the  vigor  and  strength 
of  youth. 

In  the  spring  of  1856,  John  D.  Prey  and  his  son  John  AV.,  left 
the  homestead  in  Wisconsin  intending  to  take  up  a  new  home  in  Iowa, 
but  on  reaching  that  State  decided  to  push  on  and  see  what  Nebraska 
had  in  store  for  them.  They  crossed  the  Missouri  at  Council  Bluffs, 
on  the  ferry,  and  found  Omaha  a  little  hamlet  of  probably  twenty  or 
twenty-five  houses.  Continuing  their  journey,  they  reached  Platts- 
mouth,  and  learning  of  the  fine  country  on  the  ''salt  basins,"  deter- 
mined to  see  for  themselves  what  it  looked  like.  So  pushing  on,  they 
reached  Salt  creek  on  June  15,  1856.  Here  they  determined  to  set- 
tle, and  while  John  AV.  remained  in  the  State  and  county,  his  father 
went  back  to  Wisconsin  to  dispose  of  his  property,  and  to  bring  the 
rest  of  the  fiimily  to  the  new  land  of  promise.  While  coming  across 
the  country  from  Plattsmouth,  and  when  nearly  to  the  Salt  Basin,  the 
Preys  met  three  men  who  were  returning  from  Salt  creek,  where  they 
had  staked  out  claims  for  speculation,  not  intending  to  settle  on  them. 
These  men  were  from  Plattsmouth,  and  their  names  were  Whitmore, 
Cardwell,  and  Thorpe.  These  three  men  were,  in  all  probability,  the 
first  to  take  up  claims  in  Lancaster  county,  so  that  the  history  of  the 
county  really  dates  from  the  latter  part  of  JNIay  or  the  early  days  of 
June,  1856. 

At  that  time  the  land  in  this  county  was  not  surveyed,  nor  was 
there  a  land  office  established  until  1857,  at  Nebraska  city.  In  that 
year  Lancaster  county,  or  at  least  a  part  of  it,  was  surveyed,  and  set- 
tlers could  know  just  where  their  land  was  located.  The  Prey  family 
took  up  five  claims,  John  W^.  Prey's  claim  being  on  Salt  creek,  in  Cen- 
terville,  section  24,  town  8,  range  6,  on  which  land  he  made  continu- 
ous residence  until  December,  1888,  when  he  moved  with  his  family 
to  Lincoln. 

The  Prey  family  was  quite  numerous,  the  names  of  the  boys  being 
John  W.,  Thomas  li.,  Jamcs^  \\'illiam,  David,  and  (icorge,  some  of 
whom  still  live  in  the  county.  Those  were  days  of  hardships,  times 
that  tried  men's  souls,  and  the  pioneers  who  braved  the  dangers  of 
storm  and  cold  and  starvation  and  Indian  de})redations  are  to  be 
lionored.     Soon  after  the  Preys  located  in  Lancaster  county  the  salt 


EAELY    SETTLEMENT   OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  69 

basins  began  to  attract  people  from  everywhere,  and  the  present  site 
of  Lincoln  was  the  Mecca  for  many  a  settler  who  came  to  get  the  salt 
wherewith  his  daily  food  should  be  savored,  and  his  horses  and  cattle 
salted.  From  Plattsmouth  and  Nebraska  City,  and  later  from  Be- 
atrice, from  near  and  from  far,  came  the  people,  with  ox-teams  and 
on  foot,  to  get  the  product  of  the  basin.  Some  of  these  visitors 
would  remain  a  few  hours,  some  several  days;  some  would  boil  down 
the  water  of  the  basin,  and  thus  get  the  salt,  while  others  would 
scrape  up  the  thin  deposit  and  clean  it  from  the  dust,  and  use  that. 
Of  the  salt  basins  further  will  be  said  in  a  succeeding  chapter. 

For  some  time  the  Preys  were  the  only  people  living  any  where 
near  the  salt  basins,  the  Plattsmouth  men  merely  staking  oif  their 
claims,  and  coming  out  semi-occasionally  to  look  after  their  interests. 
During  the  first  sun:mer  the  early  settlers  could  do  nothing  except 
break  land,  they  having  arrived  too  late  to  put  in  any  crops. 

The  winter  of  1856-7  was  very  severe;  the  cold  was  intense,  and  the 
snow  averaged  on  the  level  three  to  four  feet  deep.  It  was  about  the 
hardest  winter  that  has  been  seen  in  Nebraska,  and  while  it  lasted  the 
people  were  much  discouraged,  and  thought  of  returning  to  their  Wis- 
consin home.  But  the  bright,  warm,  bracing  days  of  early  spring-time 
dispelled  this  feeling,  and  the  Preys  set  out  to  break  more  land  and  put 
in  their  spring  crops.  Only  a  little  corn  was  planted  this  year  — 1857 
—  but  in  1858,  the  third  year,  a  large  crop  was  raised,  and  prosperity 
began  to  dawn  upon  them. 

Soon  after  the  Preys  settled  here,  and  before  the  early  settlers  num- 
bered more  than  eight  or  ten,  occurred  the  first  Indian  scare.  From 
the  beginning  the  Indians  had  been  a  source  of  uneasiness  to  the  set- 
tlers, but  not  until  early  corn  planting  time  in  1857  did  any  outbreak 
occur.  At  that  time  settlers  began  to  drop  in  and  take  up  land  in 
Saltillo,  and  among  them  was  a  man  named  Davis.  This  man  had  a 
great  desire  to  add  to  his  experiences  that  of  killing  an  Indian,  and 
it  was  not  long  until  he  found  an  opportunity  of  gratifying  this  de- 
sire. He  shot  his  Indian ;  but  the  consequences  Avere  worse  than  he 
anticipated.  The  Indians  were  numerous,  the  Pawnees,  Otoes,  and 
Omahas,  taking  precedence  in  point  of  numbers ;  so  when  they  found 
that  one  of  their  number  had  been  the  victim  of  a  white  man's  bullet, 
they  went  on  the  war  path  immediately.  The  settlers  became  alarmed, 
and  taking  with  them  only  those  things  which  to  them  were  the  most 


70  HISTOKY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

valuable,  they  started  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  under  cover  of  the 
darkness,  toward  A\>eping  Water  falls,  M-here  there  was  quite  a  settle- 
ment of  whites.  The  Lancaster  settlers  remained  at  AVeeping  Water 
about  two  weeks,  but  during  that  time  several  reconnoitering  parties 
were  sent  out  to  view  the  country  and  report  upon  the  feasibility  of 
returning.  During  that  time,  also,  a  company  of  about  one  hundred 
men  was  formed  at  Nebraska  City  to  quell  the  Indian  uprising,  and 
it  marched  toward  the  scene  of  supposed  devastation.  This  trip  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  one  Indian,  a  Pawnee,  who  was  brought  into 
camp  with  a  great  flourish  of  trumpets,  and  consigned  to  the  care  of 
three  men — one  of  whom  was  John  W.  Prey  —  to  guard  through  the 
night.  Early  in  the  night  the  Indian  asked  to  be  allowed  to  step  out 
of  doors,  which  was  granted,  but  no  sooner  had  he  stepped  across  the 
door  sill  than  he  bounded  away  into  the  darkness,  leaving  his  mocca- 
sins, leggings,  and  cloak,  and  was  nev^er  seen  again  by  the  guards. 
John  Prey  shot  at  him  as  he  speeded  into  the  darkness,  and  he  after- 
Mard  learned  that  the  bullet  from  his  gun  grazed  Mr.  Lo's  head, 
leaving  a  little  furrow  through  the  hair.  It  was  a  narrow  escape,  for 
Mr.  Prey  prided  himself  upon  the  accuracy  of  his  aim.  However, 
the  reconnoitering  parties  found  that  the  Indians  had  quieted  down, 
and  in  about  two  weeks  the  settlers  returned  to  their  homes.  Most 
of  the  settlers  found  their  houses  either  destroyed  or  raided,  but  the 
Prey  house  was  untouched.  This  ended  the  scare  of  1857,  but  it 
came  at  such  a  time  that  the  planting  of  crops  was  seriously  interfered 
with,  and  the  harvest  that  fall  was  consequently  light. 

Within  two  weeks  after  the  return  of  the  settlers  after  this  scare, 
the  Government  surveyors  came  and  laid  off  the  land  so  that  it  could 
be  properly  entered. 

Everything  was  then  quiet  until  in  1859,  when  bands  of  Chey- 
ennes  and  Arapahoes  came  to  the  salt  basins  bent  on  mischief  of 
some  sort.  Their  coming  was  unannounced  and  unexpected,  and 
when  they  reached  the  Prey  homestead  the  men  folks  were  all  away, 
leaving  only  the  mother,  a  young  daughter  aged  twelve  years,  named 
Rebecca,  and  two  boys,  aged  eight  and  fifteen  years.  This  young 
girl  was  some  little  distance  from  the  house  when  the  Indians  ap- 
peared, and  she  was  immediately  seized  upon,  with  tiie  evident  in- 
tention on  the  part  of  the  Indians  of  stealing  her.  Their  plans 
were,   however,   frustratetl    by   the   courage   of  the   mother  and   the 


EARLY    SETTLEMENT    OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  71 

timely  arrival  of  the  male  members  of  the  family.  But  little  dam- 
age was  done  to  the  Salt  creek  settlements  by  these  Indians,  who  soon 
passed  on  to  the  north.  With  the  exception  of  a  false  alarm  in  1864, 
these  were  the  only  troubles  of  any  note  that  the  Lancaster  county 
settlers  had  with  the  Indians,  but  at  the  time  they  furnished  consid- 
erable interest  to  the  little  handful  of  men,  Avho  were  braving  these 
western  wilds, 

Mr.  Prey  is  blessed  with  a  splendid  memory,  and  tells  many  inter- 
esting happenings,  including  the  above,  of  these  times  of  excitement. 
The  nearest  trading  point,  for  some  time,  was  Nebraska  City,  but 
during  the  first  winter,  a  severe  one,  the  Prey  family  were  very  for- 
tunate in  having  laid  in  an  ample  stock  of  provisions  from  St.  Louis, 
which  doubtless  saved  them  much  suffering.  Mr.  Prey  was  treas- 
urer of  the  old  county  of  Clay,  before  it  was  divided,  and  has  been 
one  of  Lancaster  county's  commissioners  a  number  of  terms. 

During  the  Indian  scare  of  1864,  when  it  was  thought  that  the 
bloodthirsty  Sioux  would  continue  their  marauding  movements  east- 
ward from  the  Big  Blue  river,  nearly  all  the  people  left  the  settle- 
ment in  the  region  of  Lincoln,  then  Lancaster.  Several  men  decided 
to  take  chances  and  remain  until  they  saw  or  heard  something  of  the 
savages.  Not  being  attacked  for  two  or  three  days,  they  decided  to 
go  westward,  toward  the  Blue  river,  until  they  should  learn  some- 
thing of  the  movements  of  the  Sioux.  They  Avere  well  mounted  and 
armed  with  rifles  and  revolvers,  the  party  consisting  of  Capt.  W.  T. 
Donovan,  John  S.  Gregory,  E.  W.  Warnes,  Richard  Wallingford, 
James  Morgan,  John  P.  Loder,  Aaron  Wood,  and  one  other,  eight 
in  all.  They  saw  no  signs  of  redskins  until  they  came  in  sight  of 
the  Blue  river.  Then  while  looking  around  for  the  wily  Sioux 
warriors,  they  saw  a  single  Indian  peeping  over  a  hill  some  distance 
to  their  rear,  and  decided  to  ride  back,  lest  this  incident  might  bode 
mischief.  They  had  only  began  the  movement  of  retreat,  when  sud- 
denly there  rose  up  from  the  low  grounds,  in  response  to  signals,  sev- 
eral hundred  mounted  Indians,  right  across  their  pathway,  and  the 
savages  began  to  bear  down  upon  the  little  company  of  whites,  and 
to  hem  them  in.  The  pale  faces  were  paler  than  usual  then,  for  it 
looked  as  though  they  were  going  to  see  more  of  the  Indians  than 
they  had  expected,  and  that  death  was  not  many  minutes  ahead. 
Having  strapped  their  rifles  to  their  shoulders  and  drawn  their  re- 


72  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

volvers,  they  made  a  start,  to  attempt  the  desperate  feat  of  forcing- 
their  way  through  tlie  line  of  savages,  or  die  in  tlie  endeavor.  They 
had  onlv  begun  this  movement,  when  the  Indians  put  up  a  Avhite 
flag,  and  one  warrior  rode  down  upon  them,  throwing  away  his  gun 
to  show  his  friendly  intentions.  The  Indian  hunters  halted.  The- 
Indian  came  np,  and  said:  "How,  Me  no  Sioux,  me  Pawnee;  me 
no  fight  white  man." 

To  the  great  relief  of  the  whites,  this  proved  to  be  true.  This  was 
a  band  of  Pawnee  warriors,  who  were  also  out  after  the  Sioux,  and 
supposed  they  had  caught  a  party  of  Sioux  stragglers.  When  they 
saw  their  mistake  they  raised  the  white  flag. 

After  this  explanation  the  Pawnees  rode  right  on  after  the  Sioux, 
while  the  Salt  creek  soldiers  returned  to  their  homes,  having  lost  a 
large  part  of  their  interest  in  the  Sioux. 

For  some  years  everything  moved  along  quietly,  the  number  of 
settlers  gradually  increasing.  Among  the  earliest  settlers  who  came 
into  the  county  subsequent  to  the  arrival  of  the  Prey  family  and 
John  Dee,  can  be  mentioned,  L.  N.  Haskin,  of  New  York,  who  came 
in  1863;  Geo.  A.  Mayer,  Germany,  1863;  W.  E.  Keys,  Ohio,  1863; 
E.  G.  Keys,  Canada,  1863;  J.  S.  Gregory,  Vermont,  1862;  John 
Michael,  Pennsylvania,  1856;  J.  F.  Cadman,  Illinois,  1859;  J.  P. 
Loder,  Ohio,  1857 ;  Maurice  Dee,  a  native  of  Nebraska,  born  in  1860 ; 
M.  Spay,  Ireland,  1859;  J.  A.  Snyder,  Indiana,  1862;  C.  F.  Retz- 
lafP,  Germany,  1858;  E.  Warnes,  England,  1863;  R.  Wallingford, 
Ohio,  1859;  J.  A.  Wallingford,  Ohio,  1858;  W.  A.  Cadman,  Illi- 
nois, 1859;  W.  E.  Stew^art,  Indiana,  1860;  Oren  Snyder,  Wiscon- 
sin, 1862;  Solomon  Kirk,  Tennessee,  1857;  and  Dr.  W.  Queen,  in 
1860;  all  of  whom  still  reside  in  the  county. 

Chris  Roche,  brother  of  Lancaster  county's  present  efficient  Treas- 
urer, Hon.  Jacob  Roche,  has  the  distinction  of  being  born  in  mid 
ocean,  on  board  the  ship  that  brought  his.  parents  to  this  country, 
but  there  is  no  record  that  the  passage  money  for  the  young  man  was 
ever  paid.  However,  he  is  a  staunch,  loyal  American  citizen,  even 
if  his  birth  was  on  the  "rolling  deep." 

Lancaster  county  furnished  but  one  soldier  to  the  Union  army  dur- 
ing the  late  unpleasantness  —  that  is,  but  one  was  enlisted  from  the 
county — and  tiiat  one,  who  bears  the  distinguished  honor,  is  Dr. Wes- 
ley Queen,  who  enlisted  in  the  Second  Nebraska  Cavalry,  at  Nebraska 


EAELY   SETTLEMENT   OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  73 

City,  having  then  been  a  resident  of  this  county  but  two  years.  He 
was  postmaster  of  Saltillo  when  he  enlisted,  and  left  John  Cadman 
to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office  while  he  was  away. 

On  the  second  day  of  July,  1861,  W.  W.  Cox,  the  historian  of 
Seward  county,  came  to  the  present  site  of  Lincoln,  on  the  invitation 
of  Wm.  T.  Donovan,  from  Nebraska  City,  and  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  salt.  In  his  "  History  of  Seward  County  "  Mr.  Cox  gives 
a  number  of  incidents  of  early  life  in  Lancaster  county,  and  especially 
in  connection  with  the  salt  basins.  In  company  with  Darwin  Peck- 
ham,  Mr.  Cox  began  the  manufacture  of  salt  on  the  20th  of  August, 
1861,  and  continued  the  business  for  some  years.  At  that  time  the 
nearest  settlers  to  the  salt  basins  were  W.  T.  Donovan,  who  lived  on 
the  old  Cardwell  place,  on  Salt  creek,  about  five  miles  up  the  creek ; 
Joel  Mason,  who  lived  a  mile  further  up;  Richard  Wallingford,  who 
lived  just  across  the  creek ;  John  Cadman,  whose  place  was  just 
across  the  line  in  old  Clay  county,  near  where  the  hamlet  of  Saltillo 
now  stands ;  Dr.  Maxwell,  who  lived  near  Wallingford  ;  Festus  Reed, 
who  lived  in  the  same  neighborhood  ;  and  J.  L.  Davison  and  the  Prey 
family,  who  had  located  above  Roca.  To  the  east  lived  William 
Shireley,  on  Stevens  creek,  while  a  little  further  up  lived  Charles 
Retzlaff  and  John  Wedencamp.  Aaron  Wood  was  located  near  the 
head  of  Stevens  creek,  wdiile  John  and  Louis  Loder  lived  down  Salt 
creek,  near  Waverly.  Michael  Shea  and  James  Moran  were  also 
neighbors,  as  the  term  then  applied. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1861  the  first  frame  building  in  Lancaster 
county  was  commenced,  and  it  was  finished  in  the  spring  of  1862. 
Richard  Wallingford  was  the  owner,  and  the  work  was  done  by  W. 
W.  Cox,  he  being  a  carpenter.  Mr.  Wallingford  was  evidently 
desirous  of  making  a  very  fine  house,  for  the  doors  were  of  black 
walnut,  which  timber  was  also  worked  into  other  parts  of  the  struc- 
ture. 

The  most  of  that  little  band  of  patriots  that  opened  the  way  for  civ- 
ilization in  Lancaster  county,  sleep.  Jacob  Dawson  lived  long  enough 
to  see  Lincoln  well  established,  while  Elder  Young  lived  long  enough 
to  see  the  city  grow  strong  and  vigorous,  and  well  on  the  road  to  com- 
mercial supremacy.  Elder  J.  M.  Young  was  closely  identified  with 
the  early  history  of  Lancaster  county,  the  town  of  Lancaster,  of  which 
he  was  the  founder,  and  later  with  the  city  of  Lincoln.  He  died  on 
6 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Saturday,  February   23,  1884,  and  a  subsequent  issue  of  the  State 
Journal  says  of  him  : 

It  is  seldom  that  the  Journal  is  called  upon  to  chronicle  the  death  of  a  man  who, 
living,  had  so  many  claims  to  the  love  and  respect  of  his  fellow  men,  and  who, 
dead,  leaves  so  great  a  lesson  of  faith  and  works  behind  him,  or  is  so  sincerely 
mourned,  as  Elder  J.  M.  Young,  who  has  at  last,  after  seventy-eight  years  of  labor 
in  his  Master's  vinej'ard,  gone  to  receive  the  reward  of  his  faithful  toil. 

Up  to  within  a  year  Elder  Young  had  been  quite  vigorous  and  active,  notwith- 
standing his  burden  of  years.  For  the  last  year  he  had  been  suffering  from  bron- 
chial affections,  and  for  about  two  months  was  confined  to  his  bed. 

Elder  J.  M.  Young  was  born  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  near  Batavia,  on  the 
old  Holland  purchase,  November  25,  1806.  In  1829  he  married  Alice  Watson,  at 
that  time  eighteen  years  of  age,  who  now  survives  him  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 
The  following  year  he  moved  to  Ohio,  and  from  Ohio  he  went  to  Page  count}',  Iowa, 
in  1859.  In  1860  he  came  to  Nebraska,  and  settled  at  Nebraska  City.  In  1863, 
near  the  end  of  the  year,  he  came  to  Salt  creek,  and  selected  as  a  site  for  a  town, 
and  what  he  predicted  would  be  the  capital  of  Nebraska,  the  present  site  of  Lin- 
coln. 

The  following-named  persons  located  here  at  the  same  time:  Thomas  Hudson, 
Edwin  Warnes,  Dr.  McKesson,  T.  S.  Shamp,  Uncle  Jonathan  Ball,  Luke  Lavender, 
Jacob  Dawson,  and  John  Giles.  It  was  the  original  intention  to  make  the  settle- 
ment a  church  colony,  but  the  idea  was  never  utilized  as  projected. 

On  eighty  acres  owned  by  him  Elder  Young  laid  out  the  town  of  Lancaster, 
which  was  made  the  county  seat.  He  gave  the  lots  in  the  city  away,  half  to  the 
county  and  school  district,  and  half  to  the  Lancaster  Seminary,  a  school  which  he 
hoped  to  see  established  here  for  the  promulgation  of  his  faith.  He  built  from  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  some  of  the  lots  a  building,  which  was  called  the  seminary, 
and  which  was  occupied  by  the  district  school  and  church.  It  was  burned  in  1867, 
and  was  never  rebuilt. 

A  church  was  organized  here,  and  Mr.  Schamp  was  its  first  pastor.  Elder  Young 
was  then  President  of  the  Iowa  and  Nebraska  Conference.  The  next  year  after  the 
capital  was  located,  the  stone  church  was  built.  Elder  Young's  dream  was  to 
build  up  a  strong  church  in  the  capital  city.  He  worked  assiduously  for  the  ob- 
ject, and  put  into  the  work  some  eight  or  ten  thousand  dollars  of  his  private 
means.  When  the  church  went  down,  and  he  saw  that  his  dream,  in  so  far,  had 
been  in  vain  —  that  his  dream  could  never  be  realized  —  he  was  almost  broken 
hearted;  and  this  was  the  chief  cause  of  his  departure  from  Lincoln,  which  took 
place  in  1882,  when  he  went  to  London,  Nemaha  county,  the  scene  of  his  closing 
days. 

Elder  Young  began  his  labors  as  a  minister  soon  after  he  moved  to  Ohio,  in  1829, 
He  was  President  of  the  Ohio  Annual  Conference  for  several  years,  and  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Nebraska  and  Iowa  Conference  for  about  twenty'  years.  He  was  a  man 
of  rare  vigor  and  fine  attainments. 

Elder  Young  left  four  sons:  John  M.  Young,  of  Lincoln;  James  O.  Young,  of 
London;  Levi  Young,  Lancaster  county;  and  Geo.  W.  Young,  of  Taos  City,  New 
Mexico.  He  was  buried  in  Wyuka  Cemetery,  on  Februarj'  26,  1884.  Elder  Hud- 
son conducted  the  funeral  services,  by  request  of  the  deceased,  assisted  by  Rev.  D. 
Kiiinev  and  W.  T.  Horn, 


EARLY    SETTLEMENT    OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  75 

Reminiscences  of  those  early  days  are  yet  plentiful.  Elk  and  an- 
telope were  abundant,  and  the  settlers  brought  down  many  of  these 
j)rairie  animals  to  eke  out  their  provisions.  No  buffalo  were  here  at 
that  time,  having  early  —  before  1856  —  taken  their  departure  for  the 
west.  Besides  the  four-footed  animals,  water  fowl  used  to  congregate 
around  the  basin,  such  as  geese,  brant,  swan,  ducks,  and  pelicans. 

As  the  Union  armies  gained  a  foothold  in  Missouri,  large  numbers 
of  rebels  found  it  convenient  to  find  homes  elsewhere,  and  many  ol 
them  came  to  the  Lancaster  salt  basins,  thinking,  probably,  that  salt, 
being  a  great  antiseptic,  might  save  their  somewhat  unsavory  reputa- 
tions. Great  hordes  would  congregate  at  the  basins,  and  they  would 
frequently  show  their  spirit  by  acts  that  were  hard  for  Union  men  to 
endure.  Once  they  became  so  insolent  and  insulting  that  the  loval 
men  of  Lancaster  found  it  necessary  to  organize  for  self-defense,  but 
the  rebels  did  not  care  for  any  real  demonstration  of  their  loyalty, 
and  hence  made  themselves  scarce. 

The  first  sermon  preached  in  Lancaster  county,  at  least  near  the  salt 
basins,  was  by  Elder  Young,  on  the  Sabbath  following  the  fourth  of 
July,  1863,  at  the  house  of  W.  W.  Cox,  a  fair-sized  congregation  be- 
ing present.  A  Sabbath-school  was  organized  soon  after,  it  being  the 
first  one  between  the  Missouri  river  and  the  Rocky  mountains. 

It  seems  to  be  pretty  well  settled  that  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
white  child  born  in  the  county  belongs  to  F.  Morton  Donovan,  son 
of  Capt.  W.  T.  Donovan,  who  was  born  March  12,  1859.  Mr.- Mor- 
ton Donovan  is  still  living,  or  was  a  few  months  ago,  and  in  1867  had 
the  honor  of  breaking  the  ground  for  the  capitol  building  in  this 
city.  On  March  1 8th,  of  the  same  year,  the  wife  of  Michael  Shea, 
on  Camp  creek,  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and  soon  afterward  a  child  was 
born  to  William  Shirley. 

In  1862  the  homestead  law  was  passed,  and  the  first  homestead  in 
Lancaster  county  entered  under  this  law  was  by  Capt.  Donovan,  on 
January  2,  1863,  he  choosing  a  place  just  east  of  the  present  location 
of  the  insane  hospital.  It  was  in  the  summer  of  1863  that  Elder 
J.  M.  Young  and  his  associates,  representing  a  colony  of  Methodist 
Protestants,  settled  on  the  site  of  the  old  town  of  Lancaster,  (now  Lin- 
coln,) which  land  then  belonged  to  the  Government.  Jacob  Dawson 
and  John  Giles  took  homesteads  adjoining  the  site,  and  in  1864  the 
colonv  was  increased  bv  the  location  on  or  near  the  site  of  a  halt 


76  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

dozen  more  settlers.  Up  to  that  time  Dr.  J.  McKesson,  Lnke  Lav- 
ender, E.  W.  Warnes,  J.  M.  Riddle,  J.  and  D.  Bennet,  Philip  Hum- 
erick,  E.  T.  Hndson,  C.  Aiken,  Robert  jSIonteith  and  his  two  sons, 
John  and  William,  William  and  John  Grey,  O.  F.  Bridges,  Cyrns 
Carter,  P.  Billows,  W.  Porter,  Milton  Langdon,  and  three  or  fonr 
others,  were  the  settlers  on  and  near  the  site  of  the  old  town  of  I^an- 
caster.  In  1864,  Silas  Pratt,  the  Crawfords,  Mrs.  White  and  dangh- 
ters,  C.  C.  White,  and  John  Moore,  settled  on  Oak  creek,  about 
twelve  miles  northeast  of  the  Lancaster  settlement. 

During  the  Indian  scare  of  September,  1804,  the  great  majority  of 
the  settlers  abandoned  their  claims  and  sought  refuge  in  the  towns 
along  the  Missouri.  A  few,  however,  stuck  to  their  claims,  among 
whom  were  Capt.  Donovan,  J.  S.  Gregory,  and  E.  W.  Warnes,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lincoln;  Richard  Wallingford  at  Saltillo;  James  Moran 
and  John  P.  Loder  on  "Lower  Salt,"  Aaron  Woods  on  Stevens 
creek,  and  the  Prey  family  on  the  Salt,  south  of  Lincoln.  The  scare 
was  of  no  great  account,  the  Indians  coming  no  further  east  than  the 
Big  Blue. 

In  the  early  days  there  were  many  lively  and  ludicrous  scenes  in  the 
courts  at  the  basin.  Hon.  J.  S.  Gregory  and  Milton  Langdon  were  the 
principal  local  attorneys,  and  in  nearly  all  causes  were  arrayed  against 
each  other.  They  were  both  keen  and  tricky,  ever  on  the  alert  to 
catch  the  other  napping,  and  their  legal  contests  were  sometimes  very 
lively.  Occasionally  a  case  would  arise  that  would  put  the  lawyers, 
court,  and  officers,  on  their  mettle,  and  such  a  case  was  one  which  came 
off  along  about  1804.  A  rough  customer,  who,  it  is  said  had  been  a 
member  of  the  rebel  army,  came  into  the  county  and  squatted  for  a 
few  days  in  the  little  settlement  which  was  afterward  Lancaster.  This 
individual  having  made  some  dangerous  threats,  and  having  stated 
rather  publicly  and  offensively  that  he  intended  to  kill  certain  men  of 
the  settlement,  an  information  was  filed  and  a  warrant  issued  and 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Sheriff.  All  was  then  excitement,  and 
while  the  court  (W.  W.  Cox)  was  giving  some  directions  to  the  citi- 
zens about  assisting  the  Sheriff,  who  should  appear  but  the  alleged 
criminal,  who  came  stalking  into  the  court  room,  carrying  his  rifle  in 
convenient  position  for  immediate  use,  the  Sheriff  following  him  at  a 
respectful  distance  of  ten  or  fifteen  feet.  Judge  Cox,  with  his  native 
politeness,  invited    the  gentleman  to  take  a  seat,  but  the  criminaj 


EARLY    SETTLEMENT   OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  77 

promptly  declined.  He  then  took  a  careful  survey  of  the  court,  all  the 
surroundings,  and  with  his  rifle  cocked  and  finger  on  the  trigger,  be- 
gan a  retreat,  requesting  all  hands  to  stand  out  of  the  way,  which  they 
seemed  much  inclined  to  do.  The  Judge  remarked  to  the  Skeriif  and 
posse:  "You  will  be  justified  in  taking  that  man  if  you  have  to  kill 
him  to  do  it,"  but  they  did  not  take  him.  He  backed  out  with  his 
drawn  weapon,  and  no  one  seemed  willing  to  risk  his  capture.  But 
the  culprit  was  bent  on  vengeance,  and  had  seemingly  no  intention  of 
leaving  until  he  had  wTeaked  it  on  somebody.  He  had  become  angry 
at  the  Judge  for  telling  the  officers  to  take  him  dead  or  alive,  and  so 
the  next  morning,  while  Mr.  Cox  was  busy  at  the  salt  furnace,  the 
scoundrel  came  sneaking  up  a  small  ravine  in  the  rear,  with  a  view  of 
getting  a  sure  shot  at  the  man  who  had  advised  his  capture.  But  the 
Judge  saw  the  rascal  before  he  could  get  a  good  shot,  and  the  latter 
started  oif  rapidly  across  the  basin,  followed  by  the  Judge,  who  soon 
halted  him.  The  villain  cocked  his  rifle,  but  Mr.  Cox  did  not  seem  to 
care  for  that,  and  marched  straight  up  to  the  fellow,  who  curled  down 
like  a  whipped  cur.  He  received  a  court  blessing  in  the  open  air,  af- 
ter which  he  left  for  parts  unknown,  and  was  never  seen  again. 

The  first  term  of  district  court  was  held  in  November,  1864,  in 
Jacob  Dawson's  log  cabin,  and  was  presided  over  by  Judge  Elmer  S. 
Dundy  with  the  same  rude  dignity  which  he  preserves  to-day  as  Judge 
of  the  federal  court. 

Dawson's  cabin  stood  where  the  St.  Charles  hotel  now  stands,  and 
during  the  term  of  couit  Uncle  Jacob  was  reduced  to  great  straits  to 
properly  entertain  the  judge  and  attorneys.  The  term  is  all  the  more 
memorable  because  of  a  regular  blizzard  of  whirling,  drifting,  driv- 
ing snow,  which  came  down  almost  the  whole  week.  Judge  Dundy 
appointed  Judge  Pottinger,  of  Plattsmouth,  as  prosecuting  attorney, 
and  as  Hon.  T.  M.  Marquett  was  the  only  other  representative  of  the 
legal  profession  then  present,  he  appeared  on  the  other  side  in  almost 
all  the  cases. 

Soon  after  the  first  term  of  district  court  was  held  in  the  county, 
the  legal  talent  was  increased  by  the  coming  in  of  Ezra  Tuttle,  who 
located  on  Oak  creek  in  1865,  and  S..B.  Galey  and  Hon.  S.  B.  Pound, 
who  settled  in  Lancaster  in  1866.  When  it  became  certain  that  the 
war  would  result  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and  that  there 
would  be  ample  security  here  as  elsewhere  for  life  and  property,  great 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

numbers  of  settlers  began  to  arrive;  and  a  further  stimulus  to  settle- 
ment was  the  certainty  of  the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad. 
Its  eastern  terminus  had  been  fixed  in  the  fall  of  1864,  and  the  first 
ground  broken  at  that  time,  and  this  may  be  said  to  commence  the  era 
of  a  new  and  vigorous  life  for  Nebraska  and  for  Lancaster  county. 

In  1866  the  Hardenburghs  and  Lindermans  took  possession  of  the 
salt  works  at  the  big  basin,  and  erected  a  portable  saw-mill,  which 
was  of  great  use  to  the  settlement.  They  also  erected  that  year  a  frame 
house,  which  was  used  fur  a  hotel,  and  a  frame  building,  in  which 
they  opened  a  general  merchandise  store.  In  1867  John  Monteith 
and  sons  erected  a  building,  in  which  they  kept  a  boot  and  shoe  store. 
Dr.  McKesson  built  a  residence  in  the  north  part  of  town,  and  Jacob 
Dawson  commenced  the  erection  of  an  elegant  stone  mansion,  in  which 
he  afterward  resided  and  kept  the  post-office. 

At  the  old  settlers'  picnic,  held  at  Cushman  park  on  June  19,  1889r 
Mr.  John  S.  Gregory  was  one  of  the  speakers,  and  delivered  an  ad- 
dress full  of  interesting  reminiscences,  from  which  the  following  is 
taken : 

The  early  summer  of  1862  found  me  residing  in  Eastern  Michigan,  possessed  of 
a  comfortable  bank  account,  with  the  ambition  for  adventure  usual  to  adolescent 
youth  and  a  Government  commission  as  United  States  mail  agent,  a  position  which 
enabled  me  to  pass  free  over  the  mail  routes  of  the  United  States,  including  stage 
lines.  About  this  time  a  relative  who  had  passed  by  the  salt  basins  on  his  return 
from  California,  called  upon  us,  and  advised  me  to  take  advantage  of  my  oppor- 
tunities and  visit  them,  which  I  immediately  proceeded  to  do. 

The  only  railroad  line  then  in  operation  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  the  Han- 
nibal &  St.  Joe  through  Northern  Missouri,  and  I  took  that  route.  The  road  was 
then  in  possession  of  the  Missouri  "rebs,"  their  pickets  guarding  most  of  the  sta- 
tions; but  the  United  States  mails  were  permitted  to  pass  freely,  and  although  I 
Avore  the  livery  of  Uncle  Sam,  I  was  not  molested. 

From  St.  Joseph  to  Plattsmouth  I  went  by  stage.  At  this  point  public  trans- 
portation was  at  an  end,  and  I  hired  a  horse  to  ride  the  rest  of  the  way. 

From  Weeping  Water  to  the  basin  I  followed  an  Indian  trail  over  the  "divide," 
then  an  absolutely  unsettled  waste  of  rolling  prairie  —  not  a  settler  from  Weeping 
Water  until  at  Stephens  creek  William  Shii'ley  had  a  ranch,  a  log  cabin  of  two 
rooms. 

The  older  settlers  know  what  an  "  Indian  trail "  is,  but  as  I  think  some  of  the 
later  ones  do  not,  I  will  describe  it  to  you.  When  the  roving  bands  of  Indians 
pass  from  place  to  place,  they  pile  the  coverings  of  their  wigwams  and  their  camp 
utensils  upon  their  ponies'  backs,  and  they  fasten  the  tent  poles  to  each  side  of  the 
loaded  pony,  the  ends  dragging  along  behind  on  the  ground.  They  often  pile  1")<) 
to  200  pounds  on  the  pony,  and  sometimes  a  squaw  and  papoose  on  top  of  all  that. 
Another  squaw  leads  tlie  pony,  and  after  forty  or  lifty  have  passed  along  in  "  Indian 


EARLY    SETTLEMENT    OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  79 

file,"  the  sod  is  worn  away  so  that  it  looks  very  much  like  a  good  wagon  road. 
But  ponies  can  pass  where  wagons  cannot,  as  many  a  "tenderfoot"  has  found  out 
to  his  sorrow. 

I  reached  the  present  site  of  Lincoln  toward  evening  of  a  warm  day  in  Septem- 
ber. No  one  lived  there,  or  had  ever  lived  there  previous  to  that  date.  Herds  of 
beautiful  antelope  gamboled  over  its  surface  during  the  day,  and  coyotes  and 
wolves  held  possession  during  the  night.  Mr.  Donovan,  of  whom  Elder  Davis  has 
spoken,  resided  at  the  town  (on  paper)  of  Chester,  about  eight  miles  south.  He 
(Donovan)  did  not  remove  to  Lincoln  until  1867. 

About  a  mile  west  on  Middle  creek  the  smoke  was  rising  from  a  camp  of  Otoe 
Indians,  and  down  in  the  bend  of  Oak  creek,  where  West  Lincoln  now  stands,  was 
a  camp  of  about  100  Pawnee  wigwams.  I  rode  over,  and  that  night  slept  upon  my 
blanket  by  the  side  of  one  of  them,  and  the  next  morning  went  over  to  the  Salt 
Basin.  The  tread  of  civilization  had  not  then  marred  its  surface.  It  was  smooth 
and  level  as  any  waxen  floor.  It  was  covered  with  an  incrustation  of  salt  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  deep,  white  as  the  driven  snow,  while  the  water  of  the  springs 
was  as  salt  as  brine  could  be.  I  had  seen  the  basin  for  the  first  time,  in  its  most 
favorable  aspect,  and  was  naturally  quite  enthusiastic  over  its  prospects.  A  roof- 
less and  floorless  log  cabin  stood  upon  the  mnrgin,  built  the  year  before  by  J.  Ster- 
ling Morton,  who  had  gone  out  from  Nebraska  City  and  "pre-empted  "  the  basin; 
but  it  was  deserted  and  desolate. 

I  immediately  retraced  my  steps  to  Weeping  Water,  and  there  bought  ox  teams 
and  wagons,  and  hired  men,  and  went  to  work  in  earnest  for  the  construction  of 
salt  works,  which  the  following  year  I  had  in  operation,  and  of  the  capacity  of 
about  two  tons  a  day. 

This  salt  found  ready  sale  to  the  freighters  from  Denver  and  the  mountain  re 
gions  beyond,  at  two  to  three  cents  a  pound.  Until  the  railroads  reached  the  Mis- 
souri river  and  brought  Eastern  salt  into  competition,  it  was  quite  profitable  work. 
My  first  residence  was  a  "dug-out;"  that  is,  an  excavation  dug  into  the  bank  of  a 
hill,  or  rather  the  creek  bank,  with  a  big  cottonwood  timber  for  a  ridge  pole,  cov- 
ered with  poles,  then  topped  with  hay  and  soil.  At  the  rear  was  a  log  fire-place. 
The  front  was  of  sod.     Rather  crude  was  all  this,  but  yet  quite  comfortable. 

The  county  of  Lancaster  was  organized  in  the  spring  of  18(i3,  and  I  had  the 
honor  of  being  chairman  of  the  first  Board  of  County  Commissioners.  An  attempt 
had  been  made  to  organize  the  year  before,  but  it  had  fallen  through  because  there 
could  not  be  found  available  men  enough  in  the  county  to  hold  the  necessary 
oflices. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  the  "Lancaster  Colony  "  located  at  Lincoln,  composed  of 
the  families  of  J.  M.  Young,  Dawson,  McKesson,  Merrill,  Giles,  Harris,  Lavender, 
Warnes,  Humerick,  Hudson,  and  one  or  two  others  whose  names  I  do  not  just  now 
recall.  They  staked  out  the  town  and  called  it  "Lancaster,"  and  soon  afterward 
had  the  county  seat  established  there. 

The  first  postotfice  in  the  county  was  established  in  1863,  aud  was  named  •' Greg- 
ory's Basin."  I  was  appointed  postmaster,  with  a  yearly  salary  of  $3.  I  was  also 
allowed  $12  per  year  for  carrying  the  mail  weekly  from  Saltillo,  then  in  Clay 
county. 

The  Lincoln  postoffice  pays  a  larger  salary  now,  but  I  am  not  postmaster.     In 


80  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

the  fall  of  '63  and  spring  of  '64  (juite  a  colony  of  citizens  of  Northern  Missouri 
came  to  the  basin.  The  fortunes  of  war  had  made  it  unpleasant  for  the  partisans 
of  Jefl'.  Davis,  particularly  for  those  who  had  been  suspected  of  indulging  in  an 
occasional  shot  from  the  bushes  at  neighbors  of  other  political  leaning;  and  thej' 
came  up  here  to  "  Wait  till  the  clouds  rolled  by;"  but  after  the  war  closed,  all 
went  back  to  their  Missouri  homes. 

About  this  time  there  came  into  our  fold,  from  somewhere  on  the  borders  of 
Iowa,  Mr.  Alf  Eveland,  and  he  became  one  of  the  "characters"  of  our  early  times. 
All  you  old  settlers  remember  Eveland:  a  little,  wiry,  freckle-faced  man,  with  hair 
as  red  as  fire.  He  came  to  the  basin  and  started  a  "saloon"  at  the  cabin  where 
be  lived,  with  a  keg  of  whisky,  some  beer,  and  a  caddy  of  tobacco;  but  as  he  and 
his  two  sons-in-law,  Jim  and  Kill  Harmon,  were  its  best  customers,  he  didn't  ac- 
cumulate a  fortune.  But  Eveland  was  ambitious.  He  wanted  to  be  called  "  squire," 
so  we  elected  him  "justice  of  the  peace,''  the  first  to  hold  that  office  in  the  county. 

On  the  morning  the  Missourians  pulled  out  for  "home,"  one  of  them  who  had 
a  lot  of  staves,  of  the  value  of  about  twenty  dollars,  came  over  to  my  works  and 
sold  them  to  me.  I  took  the  precaution  to  count  and  mark  the  staves,  and  took  a 
receipt  for  the  pay.  A  few  days  afterward,  when  I  drove  over  to  get  them,  I  found 
Dr.  Crimm  (who  had,  you  know,  come  up  from  Brownville,  and  had  a  bench  of  salt 
boilers  in  operation)  loading  these  same  staves.  I  asked  him  what  he  was  doing 
with  my  staves,  and  he  produced  a  receipt  for  pay  of  purchase  price  from  this  same 
Missourian,  sold  to  him  the  same  morning  as  to  myself.  We  had  been  "sold" 
together  with  the  staves,  so  we  agreed  to  divide  them  equally.  But  just  then  the 
thought  struck  one  of  us  that  Eveland  had  been  "squire"  for  several  months  and 
hadn't  had  a  case,  so  we  concluded  to  have  a  "law  suit"  and  test  the  "squire's" 
capability.  While  I  loaded  up  the  property,  Crimm  rushed  away,  as  angry  as  he 
could  assume  to  be,  and  soon  had  a  writ  of  replevin  served.  The  day  of  trial  came, 
and  of  course  the  whole  settlement  had  to  be  present.  As  the  doctor  was  plaint- 
ifl',  he  proved  his  case  —  that  he  had  bought  the  goods  of  the  owner,  paid  his  money, 
marked  the  staves,  and  had  a  signed  bill  of  sale  on  the  morning  the  owner  went 
away;  upon  which  the  squire  announced  that  as  he  was  entirely  satisfied  of  the 
plaintili's  ownership,  and  should  so  decide  in  any  event,  it  would  be  unnecessary 
for  the  defendant  to  take  any  further  trouble  in  the  matter;  but  we  both  insisted 
that  the  defense  was  entitled  to  their  proof,  and  then  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
justice  to  decide  the  ownership.  So  the  trial  proceeded,  the  evidence,  of  course,  be- 
ing identical  with  the  plaintiff's.  And  then  there  was  a  puzzled  squire,  running 
his  fingers  through  his  "aburn"  locks,  and  careful  meditation  brought  no  solu- 
tion; and  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  have  "us  boys"  go  and  settle  our  dispute 
ourselves,  offering  to  lemit  all  costs  if  we  would  do  so,  he  took  three  days  to  "con- 
sider." At  the  end  of  that  time  he  was  no  nearer  a  determination,  and  asked  our 
" terms  ■'  to  take  the  case  off  his  hands,  which  we  finally  agreed  to  do,  in  consid- 
eration that  he  should  "treat"  all  our  friends  from  his  saloon.  Well,  we  called  in 
every  one  we  could  get  word  to  in  the  county,  and  we  bankrupted  his  business. 
That  was  the  end  of  the  first  lawsuit  and  of  the  first  saloon  in  Lancaster  county. 
Eveland  resigned  his  justiceship  in  disgust,  and  removed  to  a  homestead  down  near 
where  the  Cropsey  mill  now  stands;  but  he  has  now  gone  from  there,  gone  away 
from  us,  but  not  from  our  memory. 


EARLY   SETTLEMENT   OF   LANCASTER   COUNTY.  81 

During  the  winter  of  1863,  Mr.  John  S,  Gregory,  not  having  any 
other  business  to  attend  to,  gave  some  attention  to  destroying  some  of 
the  numerous  wolves  which  then  infested  this  region.  He  would  in- 
sert a  few  grains  of  strychnine  into  little  balls  of  fat,  and  then  pass 
around  a  large  circuit  and  drop  the  balls  in  the  snow.  The  wolves 
would  follow  the  trail,  and  snap  up  every  ball.  Every  Avolf  that 
swallowed  a  ball  was  dead  in  a  short  time.  He  would  then  skin  the 
animals,  their  pelts  being  valuable  at  that  time.  The  carcasses  he 
piled  up  in  cords,  north  of  Lincoln,  to  prevent  the  poisoning  of  do- 
mestic animals  by  eating  the  flesh.  They  were  frozen  stiff  and  stark, 
and  corded  up  like  wood.  Toward  spring  Mr.  Gregory  had  a  couple 
of  cords  of  carcasses  })iled  up  at  one  place.  Then  a  lot  of  Pawnee 
Indians  came  along  and  stopped  near  the  cords  of  wolf  carcasses.  Mr. 
Gregory,  fearing  they  might  eat  the  wolves,  rode  over  to  warn  them 
of  the  danger.  He  found  the  squaws  and  papooses  lugging  the  wolf 
carcasses  into  camp,  and  he  at  once  expostulated  with  them,  by  signs, 
trying  to  make  them  understand  it  was  dangerous  to  eat  the  wolves. 
The  old  chief  thought  he  was  demanding  the  return  of  the  wolves  be- 
cause they  were  his  property,  and  at  the  chief's  command,  the  squaws 
and  papooses  lugged  the  carcasses  back,  and  piled  them  up  again. 
They  were  not  well  pleased  at  the  prospect  of  losing  a  feast,  and  re- 
turned the  wolf  meat  with  long  faces.  Finally  a  member  of  the 
tribe,  Avho  could  speak  a  little  English,  came  along,  and  Mr.  Gregory 
explained  to  him  that  he  did  not  care  for  the  wolf  carcasses,  but  did 
not  want  the  Indians  to  be  poisoned.  This  explanation  was  made  to 
the  Indians,  who  set  up  a  big  guffaw,  and  the  squaws  at  once  began  to 
gather  up  the  wolf  carcasses  and  take  them  to  camp,  laughing  and  in- 
dulging in  expressions  of  great  satisfaction.  They  cooked  up  the 
last  one  of  the  wolves,  and  had  a  great  feast. 

Mr.  Gregory  learned  from  the  interpreter  that  the  Indians  were  well 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  strychnine  in  killing  wolves,  and  were  in 
the  habit  of  eating  animals  killed  in  this  way.  They  had  no  fear  of 
the  drug,  and  suffered  no  apparent  damage  from  eating  the  wolves. 


82  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Political  History  of  the  County— A  Co:mplete  List  of  the  State  and- 
County  Officers  From  the  Beginning  to  the  Present. 

The  organization  and  political  history  of  Lancaster  county  is,  of 
course,  of  great  interest,  and  valuable.  Political  contests  in  those 
early  davs  were  as  warm  as  at  present,  and  political  canvasses  were 
made  with  the  same  spirit  of  rivalry  that  now  exists.  For  this  part 
of  the  history  of  Lancaster  county,  the  authors  are  indebted  to  Hon. 
C'has,  H.  Gere,  editor  of  the  State  Journal,  who  prepared  a  chapter 
upon  Lancaster  county  for  W.  W.  Cox's  "  History  of  Seward  County." 
The  work  is  well  and  accurately  done,  as  many  of  the  dates  and  fig- 
ures have  been  compared  with  the  records  and  found  to  be  correct,  and 
the  authors  have  no  hesitancy  in  giving  the  subjoined  extract  as  being 
a  comprehensive  and  exact  political  history  of  the  county.  Mr.  Gere's 
figures  and  reminiscences  reach  to  and  include  the  fall  election  of 
1887,  which  have  been  supplemented  by  the  authors  from  the  records 
to  bring  the  history  down  to  date: 

In  the  fall  of  1859  the  first  movement  toward  county  organization  was  made. 
A  public  meeting  was  held  under  the  "Great  Elm  "  that  stood  on  the  east  bank 
of  Salt  creek,  near  the  northwest  corner  of  the  B.  &.  M.  E.  R.  depot  grounds,  in 
Lincoln.  Festus  Keed  was  elected  chairman,  and  after  a  strong  speech  predicting 
the  future  greatness  of  the  little  commonwealth  they  Avere  preparing  to  organize 
on  the  frontier,  the  business  in  hand  was  proceeded  with.  A.  J.  Wallingford,  Jo- 
seph J.  Forest,  and  W.  T.  Donovan,  were  appointed  a  commission  to  select  a  loca- 
tion for  a  county  seat,  and  they  chose  the  present  site  of  Lincoln,  which  was  laid 
ofi'  in  1864,  and  named  "Lancaster."  An  election  was  ordered  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Cass  county,  to  which  the  unorganized  county  west  was  attached  for 
election  and  judicial  purposes,  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  "William  Shirley,  on  Stev- 
ens creek,  and  Judges  and  Clerks  of  Election  duly  commissioned.  At  this  election, 
held  on  the  lUth  day  of  October,  1859,  A.  J.  Wallingford,  J.  J.  Forest,  and  W.  T. 
Donovan,  were  elected  a  Board  of  County  Commissioners;  Richard  "Wallingford 
was  elected  County  Treasurer;  L.  J.  Loder,  County  Clerk;  and  John  P.  Loder, 
Recorder.  No  record  of  this  election,  or  of  the  official  proceedings  of  the  county 
officers,  are  on  file,  except  the  certificates  of  the  election  and  the  qualification  of 
L.  J.  Loder  and  J.  P.  Loder,  in  the  archives  of  the  county. 

It  is  probable  that  little  or  no  business  was  done  under  this  organization.     On 


POLITICAL    HISTORY    OF    LANCASTER   COUNTY.  83 

the  9th  of  October,  1860,  a  general  election  took  place,  and  was  held  at  the  house 
of  W.  T.  Donovan  for  Lancaster  county.  Twenty-three  votes  were  cast,  and  the 
following  names  are  found  on  the  official  poll  list: 

Jeremiah  Showalter,  Richard  Wallingford,  J.  D.  Main,  C.  F.  Retzlaff,  John- 
athan  Ball,  Hiram  Allen,  Benj.  Eaves,  Festus  Reed,  Daniel  Harrington,  James 
Coultard,  Benj.  Hemple,  Wm.  Shirley,  James  Moran,  J.  J.  Forest,  E.  L.  Reed, 
Michael  Shea,  L.  J.  Loder,  John  Dee,  A.  J.  Wallingford,  Aaron  Wood,  Lucius  West, 
J.  P.  Loder,  and  W.  T.  Donovan. 

For  Delegate  to  Congress  J.  Sterling  Morton  received  eleven  votes,  and  Samuel 
G.  Dailey  twelve,  showing  a  close  contest.  For  Councilman,  equivalent  to  a  Sen- 
ator in  a  State,  T.  M.  Marquett  received  thirteen  votes,  and  W.  R.  Davis  two. 
For  "joint,"  or  float  Councilman,  Samuel  H.  Ebert  received   fifteen  votes,  and 

Cozad  one.     For  Representative,  Wm.  Gilmore  had  sixteen  votes;  Louden 

Mullen,  fifteen;  W.  R.  Davis,  sixteen;  Wm.  Reed,  sixteen:  E.  W.  Barnum,  twelve; 
and  J.  N.  Wise,  six. 

For  county  officers  the  following  were  elected  without  opposition:  Commission- 
ers—  one  year,  J.  J.  Forest;  two  years,  A.  J.  W^allingford;  three  years,  W.  T.  Don- 
ovan; Treasurer  —  R.  Wallingford;  Clerk  —  J.  P.  Loder.  No  candidate  for  Sheriff? 
Prosecuting  Attorney,  or  Coroner,  appears  to  have  been  running,  and  probably  there 
was  not  business  enough  in  the  legal  line  to  pay  for  the  trouble  of  getting  up  a 
ticket.  Festus  Reed  and  R.  Wallingford  were  elected  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and 
C.  F.  Retzlaff  and  James  Coultard  Constables.  Had  all  the  offices  to  which  the 
county  was  entitled  been  filled,  they  would  have  gone  more  than  halfway  round 
the  entire  voting  population.  There  are  no  records  of  any  official  acts  of  these 
officers  elect. 

On  the  eighth  of  October,  1861,  the  county  election  was  held  at  the  house  of 
James  Moran,  and  only  fourteen  votes  were  cast.  The  new  names  appearing  on 
the  poll  list  preserved  in  the  office  of  the  County  Clerk,  are:  E.  Galvin,  E.  L.  Bar- 
rett, T.  G.  Maxwell,  and  Michael  McDonald.  Donovan,  Wallingford,  the  Loders, 
Ball,  Reed,  Moran,  Harrington,  Dee,  and  Shea,  again  exercised  the  right  of  suffrage. 

J.  J.  Forest  was  elected  County  Commissioner;  Festus  Reed,  Probate  Judge; 
L.  J.  Loder,  Sheriff';  J.  P.  Loder,  Clerk;  C.  L.  Barrett,  Assessor;  T.  G.  Maxwell 
and  J.  Moran,  Justices  of  the  Peace;  and  Jonathan  Ball  and  C.  F.  Retzloff,  Con- 
stables. 

A  record  of  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  County  Commissioners,  after  this  elec- 
tion, held  May  1,  1862,  is  the  first  sign  of  official  life  in  Lancaster  county  to  be 
found  in  the  County  Clerk's  office.  This  record  occupies  fifteen  lines  on  a  page  of 
small  commercial  note  paper,  and  informs  us  that  the  county  was  then  and  there 
divided  into  two  election  precincts,  by  a  line  running  east  and  west  through  the 
center  of  "town  10;"  and  a  petition  for  a  road  from  the  southeast  corner  of  section 
31,  town  9,  range  7,  and  another  from  the  southeast  corner  of  section  36,  town  9, 
range  6,  and  one  from  the  southeast  corner  of  section  16,  town  12,  range  6,  were 
received.  In  what  direction  and  whither  these  roads  were  to  run,  the  record  saith 
not,  and  County  Clerk  J.  P.  Loder  forgot  to  append  his  signature  to  the  document. 
The  Board  adjourned  till  July  first,  but  probably  did  not  meet  again  till  after  the 
October  election. 

At  the  election  of  1862,  held  on  the  fourteenth  of  October,  the  division  of  the 
county  into  two  precincts  was  disregarded.     Fourteen  votes  were  cast,  by  Messrs. 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Cox,  Mason,  Foster,  Calkin,  Chatterton,  Blunt,  Wallingford,  Ball,  Chambers,  Lo- 
der,  Maxwell,  Van  Benthusen,  Donovan,  and  Coultard.  J.  F.  Kinney,  Indepen- 
dent Democrat,  received  ten  votes,  and  Sam.  G.  Dailey  four,  for  Delegate  to 
Congress.  T.  M.  Marquett  received  twelve  votes  for  Councilman  for  the  district. 
Geo.  L.  Seybolt  received  ten,  and  J.  E.  Doom  three  votes,  for  joint  or  float  Coun- 
cilman. Five  other  Cass  county  statesmen  received  from  one  to  seven  votes  for 
Kepresentative,  and  T.  G.  Maxwell  received  thirteen,  all,  it  is  presumed,  but  his 
own  suHrage,  for  the  same  office;  but  the  other  counties  in  the  district  not  doing 
so  well  by  him,  he  was  not  elected.     Joel  Mason  was  elected  Commissioner. 

The  next  record  is  of  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners,  held 
November  3d,  which  ordered  a  special  election  to  be  held  on  January  17,  1863,  to 
fill  vacancies  in  the  offices  of  Coroner,  Surveyor,  and  Justices  of  the  Peace  and 
Constables,  as  those  prviously  elected  had  not  qualified. 

The  next  meeting  was  held  February  5,  1863,  and  the  officers  elected  at  the 
special  election  sworn  in.  The  Clerk  was  directed,  at  this  meeting,  to  notify 
Judge  Festus  Reed  to  stop  his  depredations  on  the  timber  in  the  school  section,  in 
town  nine,  range  six. 

Another  meeting  was  held  September  12th,  of  the  same  year,  and  the  county  di- 
vided into  four  precincts  —  named  Lancaster,  Salt  Basin,  Stevens  Creek,  and  Salt 
Creek,  and  the  various  places  for  holdiug  elections  were  designated. 

In  1863  the  county  election  was  held  October  13th,  and  an  entire  new  set  of  offi- 
cers were  elected,  fifty-five  votes  having  been  cast  in  the  county. 

J.S.Gregory  was  elected  County  Commissioner  for  three  years,  William  Shirley 
for  two,  and  P.  S.  Schamp  for  one  year.  Clerk,  Milton  Langdon;  Treasurer,  R. 
Wallingford;  Sheriff,  Joseph  Chambers;  Surveyor.  J.  J.  Forest;  Coroner,  Dr.  John 
•Crim;  Probate  Judge,  J.  D.  Main. 

J.  S.  Gregory  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  for  the  Kepresentative  dis- 
trict to  which  Lancaster  belonged,  and  John  Cadman,  who  lived  in  that  part  of 
the  county  then  belonging  to  Clay,  was  elected  for  Clay,  Johnson,  and  Gage 
counties,  and  took  with  him  a  petition  from  the  residents  of  the  northern  and 
southern  parts  of  Clay  county  for  the  wiping  out  of  that  county,  and  dividing  it 
betweeu  Lancaster  and  Gage.  This  measure  was  consummated,  and  the  addition 
to  Lancaster  made  her  a  county  of  no  mean  proportions,  extending  thirty-six  miles 
north  and  south,  and  twentj'-four  east  and  west. 

The  assessed  valuation  of  Clay  county  at  the  time  of  its  transfer  was  $36,129.82, 
of  which  822,637.82  fell  to  the  share  of  Lancaster.  Her  debt  was  $295.11 ,  of  which 
Lancaster  assumed  $185.70. 

The  Commissioners  of  Lancaster  and  Gage  held  a  meeting  at  the  house  of  H. 
W.  Parker.  Clerk  of  Clay  county,  near  Olalhe,  July  19,  1864,  and  made  a  final 
settlement  of  the  affairs  of  the  county.  The  document  setting  fortli  the  terms  of 
this  settlement  was  signed  by  Fordice  Roper,  F.  H.  Dobbs.  and  William  Tyler, 
Commi.ssioners  of  Clay  county,  and  John  W.  Pre}',  of  Lancaster,  and  attested  by 
Oliver  Townsend,  clerk  of  Gage  count}',  and  duly  filed.  Copies  of  the  official  rec- 
ords of  Clay  county  were  made  for  Gage  and  Lancaster  counties,  but  the  latter 
were  lost  in  Salt  creek  while  en  route,  and  have  never  been  filed  among  the  ar- 
chives of  the  county.* 

*  John  W.  Prey  was  the  Treasurer  of  Clay  county  when  the  division  was  made,  and  by 
some  means  had  charge  of  the  records  referred  to.    When  the  division  had  been  completed 


POLITICAL    HISTORY   OF   LANCASTER   COUNTY.  85 

At  the  time  of  the  division  of  Clay  county  the  principal  settlements  -were  in  the 
extreme  north  and  south  of  its  territory,  and  a  large  majority  of  its  tax-payers 
were  undoubtedly  favorable  to  its  division.  But  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years, 
when  the  central  part  was  filled  up  with  inhabitants,  much  discussion  ensued  as  to 
the  propriety  of  restoring  the  county,  and  several  attempts  have  been  made  in  that 
direction;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  majority  of  the  people  in  the  territory  in- 
volved are  well  satislied  with  their  present  status.  The  clause  on  county  division 
in  the  constitution  adopted  in  1875.  will  probably  preclude  any  further  agitation, 
and  will  establish  our  present  boundaries  for  all  time  to  come. 

In  1864.  at  the  Territorial  election  held  October  11th,  eighty  votes  were  polled,  of 
which  P.  W.  Hitchcock  received  fifty-three,  and  George  L.  Miller  twenty-seven, 
for  Delegate  to  Congress. 

John  Cadman  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  for  Lancaster  county, 
and  William  Imlay  for  the  Representative  district  composed  of  Lancaster,  Seward, 
and  Saline  counties.  Richard  Walliugford  was  elected  County  Commissioner;  P. 
S.  Schamp,  Surveyor;  and  Milton  Langdon,  Prosecuting  Attorney. 

At  the  general  election,  October  10,  186.5,  125  votes  were  polled.  August 
Kountze,  for  Territorial  Treasurer,  John  Gillespie,  for  Auditor,  received  100  votes 
each,  and  S.  G.  Goodman  and  John  Seaton,  their  opponents,  six  votes  each. 

John  Cadman  was  re-elected  Representative  for  Lancaster  county,  and  Joel 
Mason  for  the  district  of  Lancaster,  Seward,  and  Saunders  counties. 

The  county  oflicers  elected  were:  Milton  Langdon,  Clerk;  Luke  Lavender, 
Probate  Judge;  S.  S.  Snyder,  County  Commissioner;  William  Guy,  Treasurer;  W. 
Ingram,  Coroner;  J.  S.  Gregory,  Prosecuting  Attorney;  and  P.  S.  Schamp,  Sur- 
veyor. 

June  2,  1866,  an  election  was  held  under  the  State  constitution,  prepared  by 
the  Territorial  Legislature  of  '6o-'66,  at  which  165  votes  were  polled  in  the 
county,  of  which  David  Butler  received  112,  and  J.  Sterling  Morton  53,  for  Gov- 
ernor; for  the  constitution,  95;  against,  53.  John  Cadman  was  elected  Senator  to 
the  first  State  Legislature,  which  met  July  4th.  James  Queen,  of  Lancaster,  was 
returned  elected  as  Representative  from  Lancaster,  Seward,  and  Saunders,  and  his 
seat  was  contested  by  his  opponent,  J.  L.  Davison,  of  Seward,  and  the  contest  was 
pending  when  the  Legislature  adjourned,  after  an  eight-days'  session.  Ezra  Tul- 
lis  was  elected  Representative  from  the  county. 

At  the  October  election  of  the  same  year,  pending  the  admission  of  Nebraska  as 
a  State,  199  votes  were  cast,  of  which  T.  M,  Marquett,  (Republican,)  received  129, 
and  J.  Sterling  Morton,  (Democrat,)  69  for  Delegate  to  Congress. 

J.  E.  Doom,  of  Cass,  was  elected  Territorial  Councilor  and  State  Senator  from 
Cass  and  Lancaster;  E.  K.  Clark,  of  Seward,  Representative  from  Lancaster,  Sew- 
ard, and  Saunders;  and  E.  H.  Hardenberg,  Representative  from  Lancaster  county 

he  sent  these  records  to  Beatrice,  to  have  the  copies  made.  When  the  copy  was  ready  for 
Lancaster  county,  Mr.  Prey  sent  over  to  Beatrice  a  man  named  William  Mills,  a  neighbor, 
with  an  order  for  the  books.  Mills's  especial  errand  to  Beatrice  was  to  get  a  grist  of  tlour.  On 
getting  this  and  the  records  Mills  started  home,  late  in  the  afternoon.  When  he  reached  fcalt 
creek  a  tremendous  rain  had  raised  the  waters  very  high,  and  not  thinking  of  thi.<.  Mills 
plunged  his  team  into  the  stream  where  he  had  comfortably  forded  it  on  his  trip  to  Beatrice. 
The  current  was  too  strong,  and  the  wagon  box  was  tloated  off  and  upset,  records,  grist,  and 
groceries,  floating  down  the  tide.  Mills  himself  was  nearly  drowned,  and  was  only  rescued 
by  the  Prey  family,  whose  residence  was  near  the  ford,  rushing  out  and  lending  him  assist- 
ance. 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN". 

to  both  United  States  and  State  Legislatures.  Hardeuberg  resigned  at  the  close 
of  the  Session  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  in  March,  1867,  and  John  Cadman 
was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  State  Legislature,  which  was  called  immedi- 
ately after. 

John  W.  Prey  was  elected  County  Commissioner  in  the  Third  District. 

At  the  county  election  of  1S67,  held  October  8th,  235  votes  were  cast.  The  officers 
elected  were:  Silas  Pratt,  Commissioner;  John  Cadman.  Probate  Judge;  S.  B.  Ga- 
ley,  County  Clerk;  J.  H.  Hawke,  Sheriff;  M.  Langdou,  Treasurer;  Ezra  Tullis, 
Surveyor;  F.  A.  Bidwell,  School  Commissioner;  and  Emil  Lauge,  Coroner. 

At  the  State  election  of  1868,  held  October  11th,  460  votes  were  cast.  David 
Butler.  (Republican.)  received  320,  and  J.  R.  Porter,  (Democrat.)  123.  C.  H.  Gere,  of 
Lancaster,  was  elected  Senator  for  the  district  composed  of  Lancaster,  Saline,  Gage, 
Pawnee,  and  Jefferson  counties;  Ezra  Tullis,  Representative  from  the  county;  W. 
R.  Fields,  County  Commissioner. 

Seth  Robinson,  of  Lancaster,  was  appointed  Attorney  General  by  Governor 
Butler. 

At  the  county  election,  Octol)er  10,  1869,  562  votes  were  cast,  S.  B.  Pound,  (Re- 
publican,) for  Probate  Judge,  receiving  392;  J.  M.  Bradford,  (Democrat,)  170. 
Capt.  R.  A.  Bain  was  elected  Clerk;  John  Cadman,  Treasurer;  Sam.  McClay, 
Sheriff;  M.  Langdon,  Surveyor;  Robert  Faulkner  and  D.  H.  Sudduth,  County 
Commissioners;  Allen  M.  Ghost,  Superintendent  Public  Instruction;  Dr.  D.  W. 
Tingley,  Coroner. 

At  the  State  election,  October  11,  1870,  1,116  votes  were  polled,  David  Butler 
^Republican)  receiving  798;  John  H.  Croxton,  (Democrat,)  318.  Col.  A.  J.  Crop- 
sej',  of  Lancaster,  was  elected  Senator  for  the  district,  and  S.  B.  Galey  Representa- 
tive for  the  county. 

An  election  was  held  May  2,  1871,  for  Delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, which  met  in  June,  and  Seth  Robinson  and  J.  N.  Cassell  were  elected  to 
represent  the  county;  Col.  J.  E.  Philpott,  of  Lancaster,  from  the  Eleventh  Sena- 
torial District,  of  Lancaster  and  Seward;  and  W.  H.  Curtis,  of  Pawnee,  for  the 
Fourteenth  Representative  District,  composed  of  Lancaster,  Saunders,  Johnson, 
Pawnee,  and  Gage. 

At  the  election  on  the  new  constitution,  held  September  19th  of  the  same  year, 
1,415  votes  were  cast — 1,237  for  the  new  constitution,  and  178  against  it.  The 
constitution  was  not  adopted. 

At  the  county  election  of  October  10th  of  the  same  year,  1,259  votes  were  cast. 
The  officers  elected  were:  J.  D.  Lottridge,  County  Commissioner;  A.  L.  Palmer, 
Probate  Judge;  R.  O.  Phillips,  Clerk;  R.  A.  Bain,  Treasurer;  A.  M.  Ghost,  Super- 
intendent Public  Instruction;  J.  T.  Murphy,  Surveyor;  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Fuller, 
Coroner. 

At  the  State  election,  October  8,  1872.  1,736  votes  were  polled,  L.  Crounse  (Re- 
publican) receiving  1,189,  and  J.  L.  Warner  (Democrat)  535,  lor  Member  of  Con- 
gress. S.  B.  Pound,  of  Lancaster,  was  elected  Senator  for  the  Eleventh  District; 
S.  G.  Owen  and  A.  K.  White,  Representatives  for  the  county;  and  M.  H.  Sessions, 
of  Lancaster,  Representative  for  the  Fourteenth  District.  Henry  Spellman  was 
elected  County  Commissioner.  ,1.  J.  Gosper,  of  Lancaster,  was  elected  Secretary 
of  State. 

At  the  county  election,  October  14,  1873,  1,927  votes  were  polled.     The  officers 


POLITICAL    HISTORY    OF    LANCASTER    COUNTY.  87 

•elected  were:  J.  Z.  Briscoe,  Commissioner;  A.  L.  Palmer,  Probate  Judge-  R.  0. 
Phillips,  Clerk;  Charles  C,  White,  Treasurer;  Sam.  McClay,  Sheriff;  Dr.  J.  O. 
Carter,  Coroner;  Tom  I.  Atwood,  Surveyor;  J.  W.  Cassell,  Superintendent  Public 
Instruction. 

At  the  State  election,  October  13,  1874,  2,038  votes  were  polled,  Silas  Garber 
(Republican)  receiving  1,382;  Albert  Tuxbury,  (Democrat,)  287;  J.  H.  Gardner, 
(Independent,)  170;  and  Jarvis  S.  Church,  (Prohibition,)  139. 

C.  C.  Burr,  of  Lancaster,  was  elected  Senator  for  the  Eleventh  District;  Alfred 
G.  Hastings  and  Louis  Helmer,  Representatives  for  the  county,  and  Thomas  P. 
Chapman,  of  Saunders,  for  the  Fourteenth  Representative  District. 

Dr.  H.  D.  Gilbert  was  elected  County  Commissioner,  and  A.  G.  Scott  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction,  to  fill  vacancy.  On  the  question  of  a  Constitutional 
Convention,  there  were  1,069  aj^es  to  558  noes. 

At  the  election  for  members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  held  on  the  6th  of 
April,  1875,  S.  B.  Pound  and  C.  H.  Gere,  of  Lincoln,  C.  W.  Pierce,  of  Waverly,  and 
J.  B.  Hawley,  of  Firth,  were  elected  to  represent  the  county. 

At  the  State  election  under  the  proposed  new  constitution,  and  the  county  elec- 
tion, both  occurring  October  12,  1875,  2,360  votes  were  polled,  S.  B.  Pound,  (Re- 
publican,) of  Lancaster,  receiving  1,533,  and  G.  B.  Scofield,  of  Otoe,  727,  for  Judge 
of  the  Second  Judicial  District.  Judge  Pound  was  elected.  The  county-  officers 
•elected  were:  W.  E.  Keys,  County  Commissioner;  A.  G.  Scott,  County  Judge;  Wil- 
liam A.  Sharrar,  Clerk;  Charles  C.  White,  Treasurer;  Sam.  McClay,  Sherifl';  Dr. 
A.  C.  Gibson,  Coroner;  S.  G.  Lamb,  Superintendent  Public  Instruction;  J.  P. 
Walton,  Surveyor.  For  the  new  constitution,  2,119;  against,  109.  S.  J.  Tuttle, 
of  Lancaster,  was  elected  a  Regent  of  the  University. 

At  the  State  Election,  November,  1876,  2,911  votes  were  polled,  of  which  Silas 
Oarber,  (Republican,)  candidate  for  Governor,  received  1,947;  Paren  England, 
(Democrat,)  of  Lancaster,  712;  and  J.  F.  Gardner,  (Greenback,)  252.  The  Sena- 
tors elected  from  the  county,  which  was  now  entitled  to  two,  were  Thomas  P. 
Kennard,  of  Lincoln,  and  Cyrus  N.  Baird,  of  Oak  creek.  The  Representatives 
elected  were  R.  O.  Phillips  and  W.  C.  Griffith,  of  Lincoln,  John  Cadman,  of  Yan- 
kee Hill,  and  Henry  Spellman,  of  Saltillo.  J.  N.  Wilcox  was  elected  Commis- 
sioner. 

At  the  county  election  of  1877,  A.  D.  Burr  was  elected  Clerk;  Louis  Helmer, 
Treasurer;  J.  S.  Hoagland,  Sherifi";  J.  R.  Webster,  County  Judge;  G.  S.  Lamb, 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction;  J.  P.Walton,  Surveyor;  E.  T.  Piper,  Cor- 
oner; H.  D.  Gilbert,  Commissioner;  and  C.  W.  Pierce,  State  Senator,  to  fill  vacancy. 

At  the  State  election  of  1878,  Albinus  Nance,  (Republican,)  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor, received  1,971  votes;  W.  H.  Webster,  (Democrat,)  433;  and  L.  G.  Todd, 
(Greenback,)  409.  Whole  number  of  votes  cast,  2,818.  Amasa  Cobb,  of  Lancaster, 
was  elected  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  M.  B.  Cheney  and  E.  E.  Brown  were 
elected  to  the  Senate,  and  S.  G.  Owen,  W.  W.  Carder,  M.  H.  Sessions,  and  T.  R. 
Burling,  to  the  House.     John  McClay  was  elected  Commissioner. 

At  the  county  election,  November,  1879,  W.  J.  Weller  was  elected  County  Com- 
missioner; J.  E.  Philpot,  Judge;  L.  E.  Cropsey,  Clerk;  Louis  Helmer,  Treasurer; 
€Tranville  Ensign,  Sherifi';  A.  D.  Burr,  Clerk  District  Court;  E.  T.  Piper,  Coroner; 
H.  S.  Bowers,  Superintendent  Public  Instruction;  and  J.  P.  Walton,  Surveyor. 
Amasa  Cobb,  of  Lancaster,  was  re-elected  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  the 


88  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

full  term.     S.  B.  Pound,  of  Lancaster,  -was  elected  Judge  of  the  Second  Judicial 
District  for  a  second  term. 

At  the  State  election  of  1880,  4,778  votes  were  cast,  of  which  Albinus  Nance- 
(Republican)  received  3.397  and  T.  W.  Tipton  (Democrat)  1,381.  The  Senators 
elected  were  C.  H.  Gere  and  C.  W.  Pierce.  Representatives,  N.  C.  Abbott,  C.  O. 
Whedon,  N.  T.  McClunn,  and  R.  B.  Graham.     Commissioner,  W.  E.  G.  Caldwell. 

At  the  county  election  of  1881  the  following  officers  were  chosen:  Treasurer, 
R.  B.  Graham:  Clerk,  John  M.  McClay;  Judge,  C.  M.  Parker;  Commissioner,  H. 
C.  Reller:  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  H.  S.  Bowers;  Sherift",  Gran  En- 
sign; Surveyor,  J.  P.  Walton;  Coroner,  A.  J.  Shaw. 

At  the  State  election  of  1882,  4,818  votes  were  cast,  of  which  James  W.  Dawe& 
(Republican)  received  3,328;  J.  Sterling  Morton,  (Democrat,)  1,099,  and  E.  P.  In- 
gersoU,  (Anti-Monopoly,)  391.  Senators  were  E.  E.  Brown  and  P.  H.  Walker. 
Representatives,  C.  O.  Whedon,  A.  W.  Field,  H.  Wessenberg.  J.  W.  Worl,  M.  H. 
Sessions,  and  M.  H.  Wescott.  Commissioner,  W.  J.  Miller.  W.  W.  W.  Jones,  of 
Lancaster,  was  elected  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  C.  H.  Gere, 
a  Regent  of  the  university. 

At  the  county  election  of  1883  the  officers  elected  were:  R.  B.  Graham,  Treas- 
urer; J.  H.  McClay,  Clerk;  E.  R.  Sizer,  Clerk  of  District  Court;  S.  M.  Melick^ 
Sheriff;  C.  M.  Parker,  Judge ;  W.  E,  G.  Caldwell,  Commissioner;  J.  P.  Walton, 
Surveyor;  H.  S.  Bowers,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction;  N.  J.  Beachley^ 
Coroner;  Levi  Snell,  Senate,  to  fill  vacancy.  S.  B.  Pound  was  elected  to  a  third 
term  from  this  county,  as  a  Judge  of  the  Second  Judicial  District. 

At  the  State  and  legislative  election  of  1884  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  in 
the  county  was  f),401.  Dawes,  (Republican,)  for  Governor,  received  4,012;  Morton 
(Democrat)  2,180,  and  J.  G.  Miller,  of  Lancaster,  (Prohibition,)  209.  C.  C.  Burr 
and  Alba  Smith  were  elected  Senators,  and  S.  W.  Burnham,  Wm.  B.  Brandt,  H.  J. 
Liesveldt,  A.  W.  Field,  and  J.  B.  Wright,  to  the  House.  Commissioner,  H.  C. 
Reller.  Allen  W.  Field,  of  the  Lancaster  delegation,  was,  on  taking  his  seat, 
elected  Speaker  of  the  House. 

At  the  county  election  of  1885  the  following  officers  were  chosen:  Treasurer, 
Jacob  Roche;  Clerk,  O.  C.  Bell;  Sheriff, S.  M.  Melick;  Judge,  CM.  Parker;  Reg- 
ister of  Deeds,  J.  H.  McClay;  Surveyor,  J.  P.  Walton;  Coroner,  E.  T.  Roberts; 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Frank  D.  McCluskey;  Commissioner,  Alba 
Brown.  C.  H.  Gere  was  re-elected  a  Regent  of  the  university,  and  Amasa  Cobb 
was  re-elected  to  the  supreme  bench. 

At  the  State  election  of  1886  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  was  6,834,  of 
which  John  M.  Thayer  (Republican)  received  for  Governor,  3,985;  James  E.  North 
(Democrat)  1,424,  and  H.  W.  Hardy,  6f  Lancaster,  (Prohibition,)  925.  R.  E. 
Moore  and  S.  W.  Burnham  were  elected  to  the  Senate,  and  J.  L.  Caldwell,  J. 
Shamp,  I.  M.  Raymond,  J.  Dickinson,  H.  J.  Liesveldt,  and  G.  W.  Eggleston,  to  the 
House.     Commissioner,  H.  J.  Shaberg. 

At  the  county  election  of  1887,  the  following  officers  were  chosen:  Treasurer, 
Jacob  Roche;  Clerk,  O.  C.  Bell;  Sheriff,  S.  M.  Melick;  Judge,  W.  E.  Stewart: 
Register  of  Deeds,  John  D.  Knight;  Commissioner,  Thos.  Dickson;  Superintend- 
ent Public  Instruction,  Frank  D.  McCluskey;  Surveyor,  J.  P.  Walton;  Clerk  or 
District  Court,  E.  R.  Sizer.  Allen  W.  Field,  of  Lancaster,  was  elected  a  .Judge  of 
the  second  judicial  district. 


POLITICAL   HISTOKY   OF   LANCASTER   COUNTY.  89 

At  the  State  election  held  on  November  6,  1888,  9,962  votes  were 
cast,  of  which  Thayer,  (Republican,)  for  Governor,  received  5,440 ; 
McShane  (Democrat)  3,610,  and  Bigelow  (Prohibition)  811.  At 
that  election,  Connell  (Republican)  was  elected  to  Congress  for  the 
First  Congressional  District,  receiving  5,355  votes,  to  3,821  for  ]Mor- 
ton,  (Democrat,)  and  795  for  Graham,  (Prohibition.)  For  the  State- 
Senate,  Raymond  and  Beardsley  were  elected,  while  for  the  House^ 
Messrs.  Hall,  Caldwell,  Dickinson,  Severin,  and  McBride,  were  the 
successful  candidates,  all  being  Republicans. 

R.  D.  Stearns  was  elected   County  Attorney,  and  Alba  Brown^ 
Commissioner. 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

The  Salt  Basins  — Great  Expectations  of  the  Eaely  Settlers  and  Res- 
idents OF  Lincoln  —  An  Interesting  Calculation  of  the  Wealth- 
Producing  Power  of  the  Wells — The  Attempts  Made  to  Realize 
These  Expectations. 

The  first  settlers  in  Lancaster  connty  were  attracted  here  by  the 
fame  of  the  Salt  Basin,  which  in  that  early  day  had  extended  as  far 
east  as  Plattsmouth  and  Nebraska  City.  The  early  settlers  near  the 
basins  made  many  fanciful  pictures  of  the  wealth  to  be  obtained  from 
these  same  basins,  and  pictnred  to  themselves  a  great  city  built  near 
bv,  whose  great  source  of  wealth  should  be  the  working  of  the  "salt 
wells."  And  it  is  safe  to  presume  that  one  reason  why  the  State  cap- 
ital was  located  at  Lincoln  (or  Lancaster)  ^vas  the  fact  that  salt  was 
one  of  the  products  of  Lancaster  connty,  and  that  the  Commissioners 
believed  that  the  manufacture  of  salt  would,  in  the  future,  prove  the 
foundation  of  a  great  business,  which  would  attract  capital  to  the  lit- 
tle hamlet  on  the  prairie.  It  is,  however,  certain  that  the  early  resi- 
dents of  Lincoln  set  great  store  by  the  basins,  and  that  for  years  every 
intelligent  man  predicted  wonderful  results  from  the  making  of  salt. 

As  proof  of  this  it  is  here  pertinent  to  quote  from  a  little  pamphlet 
of  thirty  pages,  a  history  of  Lincoln,  the  authorship  of  which  is  to 
be  laid  at  the  door  of  Hon.  John  H.  Ames,  and  which  was  published 
by  the  ^^  State  Journal  Power  Press  Print"  in  1870,  a  few  of  the  fan- 
<?ies  and  figures  current  in  those  days.     Mr.  Ames  says : 

"In  the  following  remarks  an  effort  will  be  made  to  furnish  a 
knowledge  of  the  facts  and  circumstances,  established  by  experience, 
upon  which  it  may  be  safe  to  base  a  final  judgment.  So  far  as  known, 
no  similar  effort  has  previously  been  made;  and  while  care  will  be 
taken  that  any  information  that  may  be  contained  herein  shall  be  au- 
thentic, yet  it  must  of  necessity  be  less  full  and  complete  than  may  be 
desirable,  or  than  it  might  be  made  if  there  had  been  any  thorough 
and  detailed  official  investigation  and  report  thereon. 

"In  the  absence  of  such  assistance,  recourse  will  be  had  to  parties 


THE    SALT    BASINS.  91 

who  are  engaged  in  the  business  of  making  salt  by  solar  evaporation, 
and  in  sinking  the  well  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  strength  and 
value  of  the  brine  to  be  obtained  beneath  the  surface  at  this  place, 
any  information  derived  from  which  sources  may  be  relied  upon  as 
being  entirely  authentic  and  trustworthy." 

After  referring  somewhat  fully  to  a  pamphlet  published  in  1869, 
by  Augustus  F.  Harvey,  entitled  "Nebraska  as  it  is,"  in  which  a  de- 
scription of  the  salt  basius  is  given,  and  a  prediction  of  the  great 
undeveloped  wealth  which  they  represent  is  made,  Mr.  Ames  continues : 

"Previous  to  the  time  that  the  above  passages  were  written,  noth- 
ing like  an  extensive  manufacture  of  salt  at  this  place  had  been 
attempted.  Some  parties,  however,  had  evaporated  considerable  quan- 
tities of  the  surface  brine,  both  by  means  of  solar  and  artificial  heat, 
and  the  product  obtained  had  been  carefully  analyzed  by  eminent 
chemists  in  New  York  City  and  other  places,  and  the  result,  as  de- 
clared by  them,  was  as  above  stated.  [Twenty-eight  and  eight  tenths 
per  cent  of  salt  by  weight;  the  product  containing  ninety-five  to 
ninety-seven  jiarts  of  pure  salt,  and  three  to  five  parts  of  chlorides 
and  sulphates  of  magnesium,  calcium,  lime,  etc. — Ed.]  But  it  is 
thought  that  the  statement  of  Mr.  Harvey  in  regard  to  the  strength  of 
the  surface  brine,  although  no  doubt  intentionally  correct,  is,  never- 
theless, inaccurate. 

"  During  the  summer  months,  and  when  a  considerable  interval  of 
time  has  elapsed,  characterized  by  an  absence  of  rain  and  the  preva- 
lence of  the  warm,  dry  winds  which  he  mentions,  the  constant  evap- 
oration from  the  surface  of  the  wide,  shallow  basins  or  pools  of  salt 
water  often  suffices  to  reduce  the  brine  contained  therein  to  the  strength 
of  28.8  per  cent;  and  in  fact,  when  such  a  state  of  the  atmosphere 
has  prevailed  for  a  long  time,  the  recession  of  water  from  the  edges  of 
the  basin  not  unfrequently  leaves  thereon  an  incrustation,  from  a  half 
an  inch  to  an  inch  in  thickness,  of  almost  pure  salt;  but  the  brine, 
as  it  oozes  from  the  soil,  has  not  been  found  to  exceed  fifteen  per  cent 
in  strength.  It  has  been  found  that  the  rapidity  of  evaporation  at 
Syracuse,  and  other  Eastern  springs,  is  in  the  proportion  of  two  in  the 
summer  and  one  in  the  winter.  Owing  to  the  absence  of  heavy  falls 
of  snow,  and  the  considerable  prevalence  of  dry  winds  at  the  place 
during  the  winter  months,  it  is  believed  that  the  proportional  evapo- 
ration durine:  this  time  will  be  greater. 


92  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

"Earlv  in  the  .summer  of  1869,  Messrs.  Calm  and  Evans,  having- 
leased  640  acres  of  hind  from  the  State  Government  for  that  purpose, 
commenced  Avork  preparatory  to  sinking  a  well  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  one  of  these  salt  springs,  and  at  a  distance  of  about  one 
and  one-half  miles  from  the  market  square  of  the  city;  and  having 
erected  a  derrick  and  })rocured  an  engine  and  the  necessary  machinery 
they  proceeded  early  in  the  autumn  to  effect  this  purpose,  keeping  an 
accurate  record  of  the  rock  and  other  formations  through  which  they 
penetrated.  By  means  of  this  record,  with  the  aid  of  such  knowl- 
edge as  is  obtainable  of  the  ledges  exposed  in  different  localities,  an 
approximate  and  reasonably  definite  conclusion  may  be  formed  as  to 
the  location  of  the  center  of  the  basin." 

After  giving  the  formations  through  which  penetration  was  made, 
Mr.  Ames  continues: 

"The  ground  near  the  wells  is  usually  divided  off  into  blocks,  or 
squares,  of  several  rods,  between  which  are  spaces  or  streets  of  con- 
venient width,  a  map  of  the  whole  resembling  the  plat  of  a  town. 
Across  the  squares,  in  one  direction,  are  constructed  vats  or  troughs,, 
sixteen  feet  in  width,  and  about  eight  inches  in  depth,  in  which  the 
brine  is  exposed  to  atmospheric  action  Covers,  sixteen  feet  square, 
and  adjusted  with  grooves  or  rollers,  are  provided,  with  which  to  pre- 
vent the  brine  from  being  diluted  by  falling  rain.  For  the  purpose 
of  calculation,  these  covers  may  be  taken  to  represent  the  number  and 
size  of  the  vats,  and  accordingly  this  is  the  size  meant  wherever  the 
word  vat  is  hereinafter  used. 

"As  shown  by  the  result  of  Mr.  Harvey's  experiment,  six  inches 
in  depth  of  saturated  or  33^  per  cent  brine,  that  being  the  usual 
amount  exposed  in  one  of  the  vats,  would,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, evaporate  in  thirty-six  hours;  or  twice  that  quantity  would 
be  evaporated  every  three  days,  leaving  as  a  product  144,45(>  cubic 
inches,  or  over  68.36  bushels  of  salt.  This  process  repeated  seven 
times  every  three  weeks  for  twenty-one  weeks,  during  the  summer 
months,  would  result  in  the  manufacture  of  3,349.64  bushels,  and  re- 
peated seven  times  every  six  weeks  for  thirty  of  the  remaining  thirty- 
one  weeks  in  the  year,  would  produce  2,392.60  bushels,  which,  added 
to  the  former,  would  make  a  total  amount  of  5,742.24  bushels,  or 
1,148.43  barrels  of  salt  annually  from  one  vat.  Multiply  this  num- 
ber by  1,0(HJ,  the  usual   number  of  vats  supplied  from  one  well,  and 


THE   SALT   BASINS,  93 

from  the  product  subtract  one-fifth  of  itself,  as  an  allowance  for  the 
difference  in  the  amounts  of  salt  contained  in  saturated  brine  and 
brine  of  eighty  degrees  strength,  and  from  the  balance  subtract  one- 
twenty-fifth  of  itself,  as  an  allowance  for  the  smaller  quantity  of  the 
Aveaker  brine  evaporated  within  the  same  time,  (as  a  calculation  suffi- 
ciently accurate  for  all  practical  purposes,)  and  the  entire  amount  of 
salt  which  may  be  manufactured  annually  from  one  well  Nvill  be  seen 
to  be  882,001.6  barrels. 

"  Supposing,  what  is  not  at  all  probable,  that  the  brine  should  prove 
to  be  possessed  of  only  sixty  degrees  strength,  the  rapidity  of  evap- 
oration being  the  same,  we  will  subtract  from  this  amount  one-fourth 
of  itself,  as  an  allowance  for  the  difference  in  the  product  between 
«C|uaL quantities  of  the  two  brines,  and  from  the  balance  subtract  one- 
twenty-sixth  of  itself,  as  an  allowance  for  the  smaller  quantity  of  the 
weaker  brine  evaporated  within  the  same  time,  and  it  shows  a  result 
of  636,058.84  barrels  annually.  Change  the  supposition  so  that  the 
strength  of  the  brine  will  remain  at  eighty  degrees,  and  the  rapidity 
of  evaporation  will  be  reduced  one-half,  and  we  have  only  to  divide 
the  first  product  obtained  by  two,  which  leaves  us  an  annual  yield  of 
441,000.80  barrels.  Uniting  these  contingencies,  that  is,  supposing 
the  strength  of  the  brine  not  to  exceed  sixty  degrees,  and  the  rapidity 
of  evaporation  to  be  only  one-half  as  great  as  it  has  been  demonstrated 
to  be  by  experiment,  we  will  divide  the  second  result  by  two,  and 
there  will  be  shown  an  annual  product  of  318,029.42  barrels.  Mak- 
ing a  deduction  of  one-fourth  from  each  result  obtained,  as  an  allow- 
ance for  loss  of  time  consequent  upon  injuries  to  or  breakage  of 
machinery,  and  bad  weather,  and  there  will  be  left,  in  the  order 
named,  as  follows: 

Barrels. 

First 661,501.20 

Second 447,044.13 

Third 330,750.60 

Fourth 238,522.60 

"While  the  railways  now  being  constructed  and  those  projected  will 
give  us  direct  connection  with  the  Eastern  markets,  and  enable  us  to 
compete  with  Eastern  salt  manufactories  upon  their  own  ground,  it  is 
certain  that  we  shall  be  called  upon  to  supply  all  the  vast  territory 
lying  between  the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Rocky  mountains,  so  that 
$3  per  barrel  may  be  considered  as  an  extremely  low  estimate  lor  tiie 


94  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

minimum  price  at  the  wells.  The  cost  of  empty  barrels  furnished  at 
the  wells,  clue  allowance  being  made  for  transportation,  it  is  estimated 
cannot  exceed  forty-iive  cents  each  j  to  this  we  will  add  ten  cents  per 
bushel  as  the  cost  of  manufacture,  and  deducting  the  whole  from  $3, 
it  leaves  82.45  as  the  net  value  of  a  barrel  of  salt  at  the  manufactory. 
This  calculation  exhibits  the  net  value  of  the  three  annual  yields,  as 
above  supposed,  in  their  order,  as  follows : 

First 11,356,077.46 

Second 977,940.46 

Third 678,038.73 

Fourth 448,970.22 

"The  foregoing  statement,  in  which  every  allowance  is  made  for 
which  any  reason  can  be  imagined,  compares  very  favorably  with  any 
that  can  be  made  concerning  the  Eastern  manufactories.  The  brine 
obtained  from  the  wells  in  the  Syracuse  group  varies  in  strength  from 
sixty-four  to  seventy-four  degrees,  the  average  strength  from  them  all 
being  sixty-eight  degrees.  The  brine  obtained  from  the  wells  in  the 
Saline  group  varies  in  strength  from  thirty-two  to  sixty-six  degrees, 
the  average  strength  from  all  being  fifty-nine  degrees.  The  average 
annual  product  of  the  wells  at  Saginaw  is  72,000  barrels,  while  the 
rapidity  of  evaporation,  as  proved  by  experiment,  is  from  two  to  three 
times  as  great  here  as  at  any  of  the  places  mentioned.  *  *  *  * 
It  is  certain,  then,  that  unless  the  old  maxim,  'figures  won't  lie,'  can 
be  successfully  controverted,  that  the  people  of  Lincoln  have  a  val- 
uable interest  in  the  salt  basin,  vested  and  indefeasible,  except  by  .some 
unusual  providential  di.spen.sation." 

These  quotations  from  Mr.  Ames's  work  are  given  simply  to  show 
how  highly  the  people  of  the  early  days  valued  the  salt  works,  and 
what  "great  expectations"  they  had  of  the  wealth  to  be  secured  from 
them.  The  complete  history  of  the  operations  at  the  .salt  basins 
from  the  earliest  times  has  been  gleaned  from  Mr.  J.  P.  Hebard, 
who  had,  at  one  time,  considerable  interest  in  the  work.  INIere  men- 
tion of  the  salt  basins  lias  been  made  frequently  in  the  past  pages, 
but  the  subject  has  been  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify 
an  entire  chapter. 

On  the  third  day  of  May,  1854,  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Act  was 
passed,  organizing  and  then  creating  the  political  bodies  known  as 
the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.     Soon  afterward  Congress, 


THE   SALT   BASINS.  95 

on  the  22d  of  July,  1854,  passed  an  act  providing  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Surveyor  General  for  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  New  Mex- 
ico, which  provided  in  general  terms  that  the  President  should  have 
authority  to  survey  the  public  lands  of  this  then  Territory,  and  should 
have  the  further  authority,  in  course  of  time,  to  sell  the  same  under 
the  usual  land  restrictions  affecting  sales  of  public  lands.  The  pre- 
ceeding  section  of  that  act  of  July  22,  1854,  said  that  "The  President 
shall  have  no  authority  to  sell  the  salt  or  saline  lands  within  such 
Territory." 

Salt  springs,  not  exceeding  twelve  in  number,  were  granted  and 
passed  to  the  State  of  Nebraska,  by  the  act  of  February  9,  1867, 
when  the  State  was  admitted  to  the  Union. 

In  October,  1857,  these  lands  were  surveyed  and  certified  by  the 
Surveyor  General  as  being  saline  lands,  and  subsequently,  in  1859,  par- 
ties located  land  warrants  on  some  of  the  saline  lands,  which,  after 
the  issuing  of  patents  and  finding  them  to  be  on  saline  lands,  were 
afterward  canceled. 

As  the  county  settled  up,  homesteaders  came  from  miles  around  and 
camped  out  near  the  Salt  Basin  and  evaporated  brine  to  make  their 
supply  of  salt  for  the  year. 

There  have  been  several  salt  companies  formed.  On  March  1, 
1855,  was  incorporated  the  "Nebraska  Salt  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany," for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  salt  from  the  salt  springs 
near  Salt  creek,  Nebraska. 

On  March,  16,  1853,  was  incorporated  a  company  known  as  the 
"Saline  Manufacturing  Company,"  to  establish  salt  works  at  or  near 
the  salt  springs. 

A  third  company  was  incorporated  January  26,  1856,  as  the  "Salt 
Spring  Company,"  for  carrying  on  the  business  at  the  salt  springs 
discovered  by  Thomas  Thompson  and  others,  lying  west  of  Cass 
county,  Nebraska, 

In  1861,  W.  W.  Cox,  now  a  resident  of  Seward  county,  and  Dar- 
win Peckham,  of  Lincoln,  took  possession  of  one  of  the  log  cabins, 
and  commenced  making  salt.  It  was  very  scarce  during  war  times,. 
and  was  high  in  price,  and  of  necessity  many  came  to  scrape  salt. 

They  came  from  all  the  settled  portions  of  Kansas,  Missouri,  and 
as  far  east  as  Central  Iowa.  If  the  weather  was  perfectly  dry,  they 
could  get  plenty  of  the  salt,  M'hich  could  be  scraped  up  where  the 


96  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

brine  had  evaporated  and  left  a  crust  of  salt,  but  a  few  minutes  of 
rain  would  turn  it  all  into  brine  again.  Some  would  arrive  from  a 
long  distance  just  in  time  to  see  a  shower  clear  off  all  the  salt. 

Small  furnaces  were  built  and  sheet  iron  pans  used  for  boiling 
salt,  many  of  the  farmers  bringing  their  sorghum  pans  for  this  pur- 
pose. In  dry  time  some  would  scrape  up  the  dry  salt,  and  accum- 
ulate a  large  supply,  which  found  a  ready  sale  to  those  unfortunate 
enough  to  reach  there  in  wet  weather. 

Various  other  parties  manufactured  salt  here  in  a  primitive  way, 
till  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  State  Government,  in  1867. 
The  creeks  were  then  lined  with  scattering  patches  of  timber,  from 
M'hich  fire  wood  was  secured  for  boiling  purposes. 

In  March,  1868,  the  Governor  leased  to  Anson  C.  Ticheuor  certain 
saline  lands,  including  what  is  known  as  the  Salt  Basin. 

On  February  15,  1869,  the  lease  was  declared  void  by  the  Legis- 
lature, and  the  Governor  was  authorized  to  make  a  new  lease  to  Anson 
C  Tichenor  and  Jesse  T.  Green,  of  the  saline  land  which  included  the 
Salt  Basin,  for  the  period  of  twenty  years. 

A  few  iron  kettles  had  been  set  in  stone  work,  and  salt  made  by 
boiling  down  the  brine,  being  pumped  from  the  basin  by  a  windmill. 
In  December,  1869,  Horace  Smith,  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  of 
the  well-known  firm  of  Smith  &  Wesson,  being  on  a  visit  to  relatives 
at  Nebraska  City,  took  a  ride  across  the  country  to  see  the  new  town 
of  Lincoln.  Meeting  Tichenor  and  Green  at  the  hotel,  the  subject  of 
manufacturing  salt  was  naturally  the  principal  theme  in  which  he  be- 
came interested,  and  before  leaving  town,  made  arrangements  for  the 
purchase  of  Tichenor's  interest,  and  one-half  of  Green's,  giving  him 
a  three-fourths  interest  in  the  lease. 

On  his  return  home,  he  stopped  at  Chicago,  ordered  an  engine  and 
pump,  and  several  carloads  of  lumber  for  vats  to  evaporate  brine, 
all  to  be  shipped  to  East  Nebraska  City,  that  being  the  nearest  rail- 
road point,  and  from  there  all  was  hauled  by  wagon  to  Ijincoln,  in  the 
spring  of  1870.  The  engine  was  put  on  the  shore  near  the  basin,  with 
a  pump  to  bring  the  brine  from  the  basin  near  by,  and  force  the  same 
into  a  large  tank.    From  here  it  was  distributed  to  the  vats  as  needed. 

The  brine,  as  it  ran  from  the  basin  when  the  tide  was  in  —  as  it  has 
a  tide  twice  a  day,  regular  in  its  hours,  commencing  at  about  3  or  4 
P.M.,  and  reaching  the  largest  quantity  at  about  6  p.m.,  and  the  same 


THE  SALT   BASINS.  97 

in  the  morning— would  generally  be  about  35°  to  40°  by  salometer, 
and  on  a  warm  day  brine  standing  in  the  basin  would  register  as  high 
as  65°  and  70°.  Dykes  were  thrown  up  to  confine  the  brine  as  it 
came  up  through  the  ground,  and  a  canal  conducted  it  to  a  small  res- 
ervoir, where  it  was  allowed  to  settle  before  being  pumped  into  the 
tank.  In  the  warm  days  of  summer  the  evaporating  w^as  very  fast. 
From  a  vat  about  14x28  feet,  in  less  than  two  weeks  of  evaporation 
about  three  thousand  pounds  of  salt  were  taken.  The  vats  were  all 
supplied  with  covers,  on  wheels  so  that  they  could  be  run  over  the  vats 
in  case  of  storm.  The  brine  from  this  basin  is  different  from  that  of 
many  manufactories,  in  that  it  requires  nothing  put  in  to  purify  it. 

The  salt  from  evaporation  formed  in  cubes  of  different  sizes,  and 
■when  grasses  were  put  in  the  brine  a  most  beautiful  cluster  of  crystals 
would  be  obtained  in  a  few  days'  time.  This  salt,  for  general  use, 
required  to  be  ground  in  a  salt  mill.  The  kettles  were  also  used,  but 
scarcity  of  fuel  worked  against  this  mode ;  but  salt  thus  made  was  fine 
as  the  dairy  salt  usually  found  for  sale,  and  for  dairy  use  was  said  to 
have  no  superior,  as  was  the  case  with  the  coarser  salt  for  curing  meat. 

The  summer  of  1870  was  thus  spent,  Avhen  Mr.  Smith  sent  his 
nephew,  Mr.  J.  P.  Hebard,  to  Lincoln  to  look  after  his  interest  and 
act  with  Mr.  Green  in  developing  the  business.  A  large  quantity  of 
salt  was  made,  finding  a  ready  market  for  its  utmost  capacity  of  vats 
and  boilers ;  and  Mr.  Smith  visiting  Lincoln  that  year,  was  so  much 
•encouraged  by  the  results  of  the  summer's  work  that  on  his  return 
home  he  investigated  the  different  modes  of  making  salt,  and  spent  a 
large  sum  in  perfecting  and  trying  a  new  process  for  manufacturing, 
in  which  all  the  heat  was  utilized,  making  a  great  difference  in  the 
expense  of  fuel,  which  was  a  large  item  where  all  the  wood  had  to  be 
.shipped  in. 

Plans  were  made  and  partially  completed  for  investing  a  large  sum, 
in  1871,  in  improvements,  vats,  reservoirs,  etc.,  for  the  making  of  salt 
on  a  large  scale. 

Mention  was  made  of  a  party  having  located  warrants  on  these  sa- 
line lands,  the  patents  for  which  the  Government  canceled,  after  find- 
ing them  to  be  located  contrary  to  law.  One  of  the  parties  interested, 
J.  Sterling  Morton,  attempted  to  gain  possession  of  the  buildings 
during  the  temporary  absence  of  the  lessees.  Failing  in  this,  suit  was 
commenced  in  the  district  court  against  Horace  Smith,  J.  T.  Green, 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

and  the  State  of  Nebraska,  as  defendants,  to  decide  the  question  of  title. 
Mr.  Smith  learning  of  this,  and  fearing  a  long  litigation  over  the  case, 
and  uncertainty  as  to  whether  the  State  could  maintain  title  to  the  land 
leased,  and  not  wishing  to  invest  capital  under  such  uncertainties,  de- 
cided to  abandon  the  enterprise. 

During  the  season  of  1871,  as  all  improvements  were  stopped,  the 
works  were  run  by  iVIr.  (jreeu  at  his  own  expense,  netting  a  good  re- 
turn for  the  season's  work. 

In  the  October  term  of  the  District  Court  this  ease  was  tried,  result- 
ing in  maintaining  the  State's  title;  but  as  Mr.  Smith  had  given  the 
matter  up,  and  made  other  arrangements  in  matters  of  business,  he 
transferred  his  interest  to  J.  P.  Hebard,  who,  on  Mr.  Green's  refusing 
to  take  an  interest  in  the  summer's  work,  started  the  manufactory  on 
his  own  account,  and  after  accumulating  quite  a  supply  of  salt  in  the 
bins,  noticed  that  it  suddenly  commenced  disappearing  in  large  quan- 
tities. A  friend  of  his  in  the  dray  business  gave  him  some  pointers, 
from  which  he  soon  found  who  was  reaping  the  rewards  of  his  labor, 
and  M-here  it  was  disposed  of,  and  that  the  hauling  was  all  done  in  the 
night  time  or  early  dawn. 

Having  learned,  one  Sunday  evening,  that  another  raid  would  be 
made  in  the  morning,  before  daylight,  he  made  it  a  point  to  be  on 
hand.  Before  daylight,  Monday  morning,  the  teams  were  heard  ap- 
proaching from  town,  and  on  their  arrival,  one  wagon  backed  up  to 
the  opening  in  the  bin.  Mr.  Green  accompanied  them  as  the  party 
interested  in  the  results  not  of  his  own  labor,  and  took  his  position  in 
the  wagon  to  shovel  forward  as  thrown  in  at  the  end  of  the  wagon 
bed.  The  owner  of  the  salt  appearing  at  this  stage  of  the  proceed- 
ing-;, the  German  teamster,  who  was  shoveling  out  the  salt,  upon  being 
informed  of  the  kind  of  business  he  was  engaged  in,  em])hasized  with 
a  few  flourishes  of  a  good-sized  ax-handle,  and  not  understanding 
P'nglish  perfectly,  thought  his  life  was  tiireatened,  and  commenced 
hallooing:  "1  don't  want  to  be  kilt!  I  don't  want  to  be  kilt!"  and 
stopped  work.  Mr.  Green,  finding  no  salt  coming  out,  came  into  the 
l)uilding  to  find  out  what  detained  it,  and  meeting  the  owner,  he  was 
informed  that  his  stealings  were  known,  and  had  a  few  other  facts 
called  to  his  attention.  He  did  not  adopt  the  latest  rules  in  such  en- 
gagements, but  started  in  on  general  principles  to  whip  the  owner, 
and  being  nuu-li  larucr  than  his  opponent,  he  came  down  on  the  upper 


THE    SALT    BASINS.  99 

side.  Having  a  long  beard,  the  under  man  ran  his  fingers  through 
the  beard,  and  taking  a  twist  on  this,  soon  brought  the  belh'gerent  to 
his  terms,  and  Mr.  Green  returned  to  town  with  empty  wagons.  Suit 
was  commenced  for  the  full  amount  of  the  salt  taken,  judgment  given, 
and  the  salt  paid  for. 

Subsequently  Bullock  Brothers  manufactured  salt,  but  the  works, 
after  they  closed  up,  remained  idle  for  a  long  time. 

A  transfer  of  the  former  interest  of  Horace  Smith  was  made  to  E. 
E.  Brown  and  J.  T.  Green,  and  subsequently  a  company  of  Eastern 
capitalists  was  formed  to  develop  the  salt  interest,  and  the  State  made 
an  appropriation  for  sinking  an  artesian  well,  which  was  sunk  to  the 
depth  of  2,465  feet.  Aside  from  determining  the  different  formations, 
this  well  did  not  result  in  any  practical  good. 

The  brine's  having  a  regular  tide  twice  a  day  would  indicate  that 
the  supply  from  which  it  comes  is  not  directly  underneath.  The  brine 
oozes  up  through  the  muck  on  the  basin,  and  if  not  confined  by  dykes, 
runs  off  into  Salt  creek.  Where  the  basin  is  covered  with  brine  when 
the  tide  is  in,  during  the  middle  of  the  day  it  will  be  dry  enough  to 
walk  over,  and  often  a  thin  layer  of  salt  will  cover  parts  of  the 
ground. 

In  the  earlier  history  of  Lincoln  a  well  was  sunk  several  hundred 
feet  deep,  on  the  east  side  of  Oak,  near,  if  not  in,  what  is  now  known 
as  West  Lincoln.  This  was  finally  abandoned,  as,  like  the  artesian 
well  in  the  postoffice  square,  no  brine  of  sufficient  strength  was  found 
that  would  answer  for  manufacturing  purposes.  On  the  banks  of  Salt 
creek  may  be  found  numerous  small  springs  from  which  salt  water 
flows,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  material  from  which  to  make  several 
hundred  barrels  of  good  salt  per  day,  in  good  weather,  all  runs  to  waste. 
The  water  is  fine  for  bathing  purposes,  and  possesses  medicinal  (pial- 
ities.  As  to  the  best  means  of  utilizing  this  brine,  there  are  different 
opinions,  but  no  one  has  as  yet  solved  the  problem,  and  the  question 
will  remain  for  future  determination. 


100  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Eemuval  of  the  Capital  to  Lincoln — Legislative  Incidents  Preceding 
THE  Accomplishment  of  the  Work — Carrying  the  Capital  Away 
on  Wheels. 

The  one  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  Lincoln,  the  one  event  Avhich, 
more  than  any  other,  gave  the  city  its  start,  from  which  it  has  grown, 
by  reason  of  its  commercial  advantages  and  the  push  and  enterprise  of 
its  citizens,  to  its  present  size  and  importance  among  Western  cities, 
the  turning  point  in  its  career,  so  to  speak,  was  the  location  of  the 
State  capital  here,  in  1867.  And  the  incidents  attending  the  location 
of  the  seat  of  government  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters 
in  the  history  of  the  State  of  Nebraska. 

In  1854,  when  the  Territory  of  Nebraska  was  created,  Francis  Burt, 
of  South  Carolina,  was  appointed  Territorial  Governor  by  President 
Pierce.  On  the  7th  of  October  of  that  year  the  new  Governor  ar- 
rived. Although  ill  at  the  time,  he  took  the  oath  of  office  on  the 
16th,  only  to  die  on  the  18th.  Governor  Burt,  by  the  organic  act,  and 
the  appointment  of  the  President,  was  clothed  with  almost  absolute 
power  in  the  location  of  the  Territorial  capital ;  and  although  he  was 
Governor  but  two  days,  he  gave  expression  to  sentiments  and  prefer- 
ences that  led  the  people  to  believe  that  had  he  lived  Bellevue  would 
have  been  the  Territorial  capital.  After  the  death  of  Governor  Burt, 
the  Secretary  of  Nebraska,  T.  B.  Cuming,  became  acting  Governor, 
and  soon  after  taking  the  oath  of  office,  located  the  seat  of  Govern- 
ment at  Omaha. 

At  that  place  the  first  Territorial  Legislature  met  on  Tuesday,  Jan- 
uary 16, 1855.  Omaha  continued  to  be  the  capital  until  the  admission 
of  Nebraska  as  a  State,  Avhen  the  change  was  made  to  Lincoln,  not, 
however,  without  much  Avrangling  and  a  hard  fight.  Not  that  many 
attempts  were  not  made  to  remove  the  capital  to  Bellevue,  Nebraska 
City,  Florence,  and  other  places,  for  in  many  sessions  of  the  Territo- 
rial I^egislature  "capital  removal "  was  a  cause  of  much  bitterness — a 
bone  of  contention.     The  root  of  the  whole  trouble  was  a  pretended 


EEMOVAL   OF   THE   CAPITAL.  101 

enumeration  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  in  1854,  on  which  the 
representation  in  the  first  Legislature  was  based,  that  Legislature  hav- 
ing the  endorsing  of  Governor  Cuming's  location  of  the  capital.  The 
North  Platte  fellows  got  away  with  those  from  the  South  Platte,  and 
hence  carried  their  point.  In  LS57  an  attempt  was  made  to  "  remove," 
and  again  in  1858,  when  the  exciting  events  which  were  just  begin- 
ning in  the  East  and  South  attracted  the  attention  of  the  legislators 
from  their  local  bickerings.  In  a  sketch,  "The  Capital  Question  in 
Nebraska,  and  the  Location  of  the  Seat  of  Government  at  I^incoln," 
by  Hon.  Charles  H.  Gere,  read  before  the  State  Historical  Society, 
January  12,  1886,  he  gives  the  incidents  of  these  times  very  fully, 
and  from  that  sketch  the  account  of  the  capital  troubles  during  the 
year  1867  is  purloined: 

"  But  the  Avar  came  to  an  end,  and  when  the  last  Territorial  Leg- 
islature of  1867  met,  the  old  question  of  unfair  apportionment  came 
to  the  front  again.  The  population  of  the  South  Platte  section  had 
increased  until  it  w'as  about  double  that  of  the  counties  north  of  the 
troublesome  stream.  But  the  superior  tactics  of  the  Douglas  county 
leaders  held  its  representation  down  to  such  an  extent  that  it  had  but 
seven  of  the  thirteen  Councilmen,  and  twenty-one  of  the  thirty-seven 
Representatives.  Two  threads  of  policy  had  intertwisted  to  make 
the  resistance  to  a  reapportionment  based  upon  actual  population,  suf- 
ficiently strong  to  overcome  the  justice  supposed  to  be  latent  in  the 
minds  of  statesmen. 

"The  first  was  the  fear  entertained  by  Douglas  county  of  the  re- 
opening of  the  capital  agitation.  The  North  Platte  was  now  about 
a  unit  in  favor  of  Omaha  as  against  a  southern  competitor.  The 
second  was  a  political  consideration.  A  reapportionment  meant  a 
cutting  down  of  the  representation  from  Otoe  as  well  as  Douglas 
county,  both  Democratic  strongholds.  These  counties,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  some  lesser  constituencies  on  the  north  of  the  Platte,  which 
sent  Democratic  delegations,  were  able  to  hold  a  very  even  balance  in 
the  Legislature  against  the  Pepiiblicaus,  though  the  latter  had  an 
unquestionable  majority  in  the  Territory.  Now  that  Statehood  was 
imminent,  and  there  were  two  United  States  Senators  to  be  elected  by  a 
State  Legislature,  soon  to  be  called,  in  case  President  Johnson  should 
not  succeed  in  his  plan  of  defeating  our  admission  under  the  enabling 
act  of  1864,  it  was  of  immense  importance  to  stave  off  a  reapportion- 


102  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LI^•COL^'. 

ment.  Hence  for  capital  reasons  the  Republicans  from  the  North 
Platte  and  the  Democrats  from  the  South  Platte  worked  in  harmony 
with  the  Douglas  county  members  in  preserving  a  basis  of  representa- 
tion in  its  original  injustice.  The  usual  bill  for  a  new  apportionment 
had  been  introduced,  and  passed  the  Senate,  and  came  to  the  House,  but 
the  four  votes  from  Otoe  county  being  solid  against  it,  it  was  sleeping 
the  sleep  of  the  just.  In  tlie  Speaker's  chair  was  William  F.  Chapin, 
of  Cass,  an  exjiert  parliamentarian,  cool,  determined,  watchful,  and  un- 
tiring. The  session  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  it  was  Saturday ;  the 
term  expired  at  twelve  o'clock,  midnight,  on  the  following  Monday, 
and,  as  usual,  the  results  of  pretty  much  all  the  toil  and  perspiration 
of  the  forty  days  depended  upon  a  ready  and  rapid  dispatch  of  bus- 
iness during  the  remaining  hours  of  the  session. 

"There  was  something  sinister  in  the  air.  It  was  whispered  about 
that  morning  that  the  reapportioimient  bill  had  at  last  a  majority,  in 
case  Deweese,  of  Richardson,  who  was  absent  on  leave,  should  put  in  an 
appearance.  A  vote  or  two  had  been  brought  over  from  some  of  the 
northern  districts  remote  from  Omaha,  and  anxious  for  Republican 
domination.  '  Fun '  was  therefore  expected.  It  came  very  soon  after  the 
roll  was  called  on  the  opening  of  the  session.  The  credentials  of  D.  ]M. 
Rolfe,  of  Otoe,  who  had  not  been  in  attendance  during  the  session,  but 
who  was  an  anti-reapportionist,  were  called  up,  and  it  was  moved  that 
they  be  reported  to  a  special  committee.  The  ayes  and  nays  were  de- 
manded. Pending  roll  call,  it  was  moved  that  a  call  of  the  house 
be  ordered.  The  call  was  ordered,  and  the  doors  closed.  All  the 
members  answered  to  their  names  but  Deweese,  of  Richardson,  and 
Dorsey,  of  AA'ashington.  Then  the  other  side  made  a  motion  that 
further  proceedings  under  the  call  be  dispensed  Math.  The  ayes  and 
nays  were  demanded,  and  there  were  seventeen  ayes  and  sixteen  nays. 
Speaker  Chapin  announced  that  he  voted  *no,'  and  tiiat  being  a  tie, 
the  motion  was  lost.  An  appeal  was  taken  from  the  decision  of  the 
chair,  and  the  vote  resulted  in  another  tie,  and  the  appeal  was  de- 
clared lost.  The  rule  is  that  an  affirmative  proi)osition  cannot  be 
carried  by  a  tie  vote,  but  that  all  questions  are  decided  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  usual  form  of  putting  the  question  is:  'Shall  the  decision 
of  the  chair  stand  as  the  judgment  of  the  house?'  The  negative 
would  be  that  it  should  not  so  stand.  J>ut  in  that  case  a  decision  of 
the  chair  is  reversed  by  less  than  a  majority  of  the  members  voting. 


REMOVAL    OF    THE   CAPITAL.  103 

which  is,  of  course,  absurd.  It  was  a  deadlock.  The  result  was  a 
curious  demonstration  of  the  absurdity  of  manipulating  a  proposition 
by  the  use  of  misleading  formulas,  so  that  the  negative  side  of  a  ques- 
tion may  appear  in  the  affirmative. 

"The  hours  passed,  but  'no  thoroughfare'  was  written  on  the  faces 
of  the  reapportionists.  They  said  that  until  they  had  some  assurance 
that  a  reapportionment  bill  Mould  be  passed  before  the  adjournment, 
they  would  prevent  the  transaction  of  any  more  business.  Secretly 
they  expected  Deweese,  who  was  rumored  to  be  well  enough  to  attend, 
and  they  waited  for  his  appearance,  but  he  did  not  come.  The  Door- 
keeper and  Sergeant-at-Arms  had  orders  to  let  no  man  out,  and  when 
noontide  passed  and  the  shadows  lengthened,  the  members  sent  out 
for  refreshments  and  lunched  at  their  desks.  The  night  came.  Some 
of  the  refreshments  had  been  of  a  very  partisan  character,  and  there 
was  blood  on  the  horizon.  Many  became  hilarious,  and  the  loi)by 
was  exceedingly  noisy.  From  hilarity  to  pugnacity  is  but  a  short 
step.  Arms  and  munitions  of  war  were  smuggled  in  during  the 
evening  by  the  outside  friends  of  both  sides,  and  it  was  pretty  confi- 
dently whispered  that  the  conclusion  was  to  be  tried  by  force  of  re- 
volvers. 

"A  little  after  ten  o'clock  p.  M.,  Augustus  F.  Harvey,  of  Otoe, 
rose,  and  moved  that  Speaker  Chapin  be  deposed,  and  that  Dr.  Ab- 
bott, of  Washington,  be  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy.  He  then  put  the 
question  to  a  viva'  voce  vote,  and  declared  the  motion  adopted  and  Dr. 
Abbott  elected  Speaker  of  the  House.  The  stalwart  form  of  Mv. 
Parmalee,  the  fighting  man  of  the  faction,  immediately  lifted  itself 
from  a  desk  near  by,  and  advanced,  wdth  Dr.  Abbott,  toward  the 
chair,  backed  up  by  Harvey  and  a  procession  of  his  friends.  As  he 
placed  his  foot  upon  the  first  step  of  the  dias,  Speaker  Chapin  sud- 
denly unlimbered  a  Colt's  Navy,  duly  cocked,  and  warned  him  briefly 
to  the  effect  that  the  Pythagorean  proposition  that  two  bodies  could 
not  occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time  was  a  rule  of  the  House, 
and  would  be  enforced  by  the  combined  armament  at  the  command  of 
the  proper  presiding  officers.  Daniel  paused  upon  the  brink  of  fate, 
and  hesitated  upon  his  next  step.  To  hesitate  was  to  be  lost.  The 
speaker  announced  that  in  accordance  Avith  the  rules  of  the  House  in 
cases  of  great  disorder,  he  declared  the  House  adjourned  until  nine 
o'clock  Monday  morning,  and  sprang  for  the  door.      The  Omaha 


10-4  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

lobby  had  promised  faithfully,  when  the  crisis  came,  to  guard  that 
door,  and  permit  no  rebel  from  the  South  Platte  to  escape.  The  first 
man  to  reach  the  door  was  said  to  be  Kelley,  of  Platte,  who  had 
joined  the  forces  of  the  reapportionists,  and  it  is  a  tradition  that  he 
leaped  over  the  legislative  stove  to  get  there  in  time.  The  door 
was  burst  open,  and  before  the  volunteer  guard  could  recover  its 
equilibrium,  the  seceders  had  escaped,  and  Avere  out  of  the  buildings 
scattering  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  But  they  had  a  rendez- 
vous agreed  upon  in  a  secret  place,  and  in  half  an  hour  they  were 
safely  entrenched,  and  on  guard  against  any  Sergeant-at-Arms  and 
posse  that  might  be  dispatched  to  return  them  to  durance  vile. 

"The  Abbott  House  immediately  organized,  admitted  Rolfe,  of 
Otoe,  to  full  membership,  and  proceeded  to  clear  the  docket  of  ac- 
cumulated bills.  Members  of  the  lobby  trooped  in  and  voted  the 
names  of  the  absent,  and  everything  proceeded  in  an  unanimous  way 
that  must  have  astonished  the  walls  of  the  chamber,  if  they  had  ears 
and  memory.  About  dawn,  however,  the  situation  began  to  lose  it& 
roseate  hue,  and  an  adjournment  was  had  till  Monday  morning. 
Before  that  time  arrived  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation  dawned  on 
both  factions.  They  perceived  that  nothing  whatever  would  come  of 
the  deadlock.  Neither  party  had  a  quorum.  Deweese,  of  Richard- 
son, could  not  be  brought  in  to  vote  for  reapportionment,  and  by 
common  consent  a  peace  was  concluded,  and  Monday  was  spent  in 
an  amicable  settlement  of  the  arrearages  of  routine  business." 

These  incidents,  however,  created  a  great  sensation  all  over  the  State^ 
and  made  sectional  and  partisan  feeling  run  high.  The  adjournment 
took  place  on  February  18th,  and  two  days  later,  on  the  20th,  the 
State  Legislature,  (chosen  at  the  same  election  at  which  the  State  con- 
stitution had  been  adopted  under  the  enabling  act,  held  June  2, 1866,) 
was  called  together  by  Governor  Saunders,  to  accept  or  reject  the 
"fundamental  condition"  insisted  on  by  Congress  as  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  the  admission  of  the  State.  The  condition  was  that  the  word 
"white"  in  the  constitution  theretofore  passed  by  the  Legislature  and 
ratified  by  the  people,  should  not  be  construed  as  debarring  from  fran- 
chise any  citizen  of  Nebraska  on  account  of  race  or  color.  On  the 
21st  day  of  February,  1867,  the  second  day  of  the  session,  the  bill 
accepting  these  conditions  passed,  and  was  signed  by  Governor  But- 
ler, who  had  taken  his  seat  that  day.     On  the  first  of  March  Presi- 


EEMOVAL    OF   THE    CAPITAL.  105 

dent  Johnson  issued  the  proclamation  declaring  Nebraska  a  State,  the 
State  officers  were  sworn  in,  and  Governor  Butler  began  to  prepare 
his  call  for  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  to  put  the  machinery 
of  the  State  in  motion. 

Quoting  Hon.  C.  H.  Gere  again:  "It  was  insisted  upon  by  the 
leaders  of  the  Eepublican  party  in  the  south  and  west,  that  a  reap- 
portionment of  members  of  the  Legislature  should  be  one  of  the  ob- 
jects of  legislation  enumerated  in  the  call.  This  was  opposed  by  many 
Republicans  in  Douglas  and  other  northern  counties.  It  was  also 
asked,  this  time  by  Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans,  from  Otoe  as 
well  as  from  Cass  and  Richardson  and  the  southAvestern  counties 
that  a  clause  should  be  inserted  making  the  location  of  the  seat  of 
government  of  the  State  one  of  the  objects  of  the  special  session.  The 
Governor  was  averse  to  commencing  his  administration  Avith  a  capital 
wrangle,  but  thought  it  would  be  good  policy  to  make  use  of  the  sug- 
gestion, for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  reapportionment  without  a  repe- 
tition of  the  bitter  struggle  of  the  winter.  He  therefore  o])ened 
negotiations  with  the  Douglas  county  delegation  to  the  coming  Leg- 
islature, and  promised  them  that  he  would  leave  out  the  capital 
question,  provided  they  would  pledge  themselves  to  sustain  a  reappor- 
tionment. They  flatly  refused.  They  claimed  that  the  Legislature 
could  not  constitutionally  reapportion  the  representation  until  after  the 
next  census,  and  as  for  capital  removal,  they  were  not  brought  up  in 
the  woods  to  be  scared  by  an  owl.  The  Otoe  delegation  had,  however, 
changed  its  base.  The  Senators  had  been  elected  and  seated,  and  polit- 
ical considerations  had  lost  their  force  Avith  the  democrats  of  that 
county.  They  wanted  the  capital  removed  south  of  the  Platte,  and  they 
promised  if  the  Governor  Avould  '  put  that  in '  they  Avould  march 
right  up  and  vote  for  apportionment. 

"  His  Excellency  had  gone  too  far  to  retreat,  and  when  his  call  was 
issued  it  embraced  both  capital  removal  and  reapportionment,  he  hav- 
ing consulted  a  distinguished  constitution  constructor,  Judge  Jamison, 
of  Chicago,  on  the  latter  point,  and  obtained  an  elaborate  opinion  that 
it  was"  not  only  in  the  power  of  the  Legislature,  but  its  bounden  duty, 
under  the  constitution,  to  reapportion  the  representation  at  its  first 
session. 

"The  Legislature  met  on  May  18th,  and  tlie  lines  were  quickly 
drawn  for  the  emergency.     Reapportionment  was  a  fixed  fact,  and  af- 
8 


10(3  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

tei"  a  few  days  spent  in  reconnoitering,  a  solid  majority  in  both  houses 
seemed  likely  to  agree  upon  a  scheme  for  capital  location.  Mr.  Har- 
vey, who  had  led  the  assault  upon  reapportionment  at  the  late  session 
of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  was  an  active  leader  of  his  late  antag- 
onists for  relocation.  Party  affiliations  were  ruptured  all  along  the 
line,  and  the  new  lines  were  formed  on  a  sectional  basis.  The  bill 
was  prepared  with  deliberation,  much  caucusing  being  required  before 
it  would  satisfy  the  various  elements  in  the  movement,  and  it  was  in- 
troduced in  both  houses  on  the  4th  of  June.  It  was  entitled,  'An 
act  to  provide  for  the  location  of  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State 
of  Nebraska,  and  for  the  erection  of  public  buildings  thereat.'  It 
named  the  Governor,  David  Butler;  the  Secretary  of  State,  Thomas 
P.  Kennard,  and  the  Auditor,  John  Gillespie,  Commissioners,  who 
should  select,  on  or  before  July  15th,  (a  date  changed  by  a  subsequent 
bill  to  September  1,  1867,)  from  lands  belonging  to  the  State,  lying 
within  the  counties  of  Seward,  the  south  half  of  the  counties  of  Saun- 
ders and  Butler,  and  that  portion  of  Lancaster  county  lying  north  of 
the  south  line  of  township  nine,  a  suitable  site  of  not  less  than  640 
acres  lying  in  one  body,  for  a  town ;  to  have  the  same  surveyed  and 
named  '  Lincoln  ;'  and  declared  the  same  the  permanent  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  the  State. 

"The  bill  directed  the  Commissioners,  after  the  site  had  been  sur- 
veyed, to  offer  the  lots  in  each  alternate  block  for  sale  to  the  highest  bid- 
der, after  tiiirty  days' advertisement,  and  after  having  appraised  the 
same;  but  that  no  lot  should  be  sold  for  less  than  the  appraised  value. 
The  first  sale  should  be  held  for  five  successive  days  at  Lincoln,  on  the 
site,  after  which  sale  should  be  opened  for  the  same  duration,  first  at 
Nebraska  City,  and  next  at  Omaha.  If  a  sufficient  number  of  lots 
should  not  by  this  time  be  disposed  of  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
.selection  and  survey,  and  to  erect  a  building  as  prescribed  in  the  bill, 
further  sales  might  be  advertised  and  held  in  Plattsmouth  and  Brown- 
ville.  All  moneys  derived  from  these  sales,  which  should  be  for  cash, 
should  be  deposited  in  the  State  Treasury,  and  there  held  by  the  Treas- 
urer as  a  State  building  fund.  From  the  proceeds  of  these  sales  the 
Commissioners  should  proceed  to  advertise  for  plans  and  contracts, 
and  cause  to  be  erected  a  building  suitable  for  executive  offices  and 
the  accommodation  of  the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature,  that  might 
be  a  part  of  a  larger  building  to  be  completed  in  the  future,  the  cost 


REMOVAL    OF   THE    CAPITAL.  107 

of  which  wing,  or  part  of  a  building,  should  not  exceed  $50,000. 
The  bill  passed  the  Senate  on  the  10th  day  of  June. 

"Those  voting  for  it  were:  Jesse  T.  Davis,  of  Washington;  James 
E.  Doom  and  Lawson  Sheldon,  of  Cass;  Oscar  Holden,  of  Johnson; 
Thos.  J.  Majors,  of  Nemaha;  William  A.  Presson,  of  Richardson; 
and  Mills  S.  Reeves  and  W.  W.  Wardell,  of  Otoe.— Eight. 

"The  noes  were:  Harlan  Baird,  of  Dakota;  Isaac  S.  Hascall  and 
J.  N.  H.  Patrick,  of  Douglas;  E.  H.  Rogers,  of  Dodge,  and  Frank 
K.  Freeman,  of  Lincoln. — Five. 

"The  House  passed  the  bill  two  days  later,  under  suspension  of  the 
rules,  forwarding  it  to  its  third  reading.  As  in  the  Senate,  so  in  the 
House,  the  opponents  of  the  bill  resorted  to  strategy  for  stamped i no- 
the  friends  of  the  measure,  and  offered  numerous  amendments  to  lo- 
cate the  capital,  or  the  university,  or  the  Agricultural  College,  at  Ne- 
braska City,  or  in  the  boundaries  of  Cass  or  Nemaha  counties.  But 
all  amendments  were  steadily  voted  down  by  a  solid  phalanx.  The 
gentlemen  in  the  House,  voting  'aye'  on  its  final  passage,  were: 
David  M.  Anderson,  John  B.  Bennett,  William  M.  Hicklin,  Aug.  F. 
Harvey,  and  George  W.  Sproat,  of  Otoe;  J.  R.  Butler,  of  Pawnee; 
John  Cadman,  of  Lancaster ;  E.  L.  Clark,  of  Seward ;  W.  F.  Chapin, 
D.  Cole,  A.  B.  Fuller,  and  Isaac  Wiles,  of  Cass;  Geo.  Crowe,  AYil- 
liam  Dailey,  Louis  Waldter,  and  C.  F.  Hay  ward,  of  Nemaha;  J.  M. 
Deweese,  Gustavus  Duerfeldt,  T.  J.  Collins,  and  J.  T.  Haile,  of  Rich- 
ardson ;  Henry  Morton,  of  Dixon ;  Dean  C.  Slade,  and  John  A.  Un- 
thank,  of  Washington ;  Oliver  Townsend,  of  Gage,  and  George  P. 
Tucker,  of  Johnson, — Twenty-five. 

"The  noes  were:  O.  W.  Baltzley,  of  Dakota;  Henry  Beebe,  of 
Dodge;  George  N.  Crawford  and  A.  W.  Trumble,  of  Sarpy  ;  Geo.  W. 
Frost,  Joel  T.  Griffin,  Martin  Dunham,  J.  M.  Woolworth,  and  Dan 
S.  Parmalee,  of  Douglas,  and  John  A.  Wallichs,  of  Platte. — Ten." 

Early  in  the  capital  fight  the  Omaha  newspapers  made  great  sport 
of  the  removal  scheme,  and  the  departure  of  the  Commissioners  to 
hunt  up  a  location  was  the  cause  of  much  merriment  among  them.  It 
was  not  until  the  Commissioners  had  announced  the  location  of  the 
new  capital  that  the  newspapers  woke  up  to  the  real  situation,  and  then 
there  was  lively  music  in  the  air.  Every  little  technicality  that  could 
be  seized  upon  was  used  to  defeat  the  scheme,  but  of  course  all  efforts 
in  that  direction  failed. 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Wliilc  the  heated  contest  over  the  bill  was  in  progress,  every  rnse, 
stratagem,  and  dodge,  the  Xorth  Platte  party,  and  particnlarly  the 
Dontjlas  delegation,  conld  devise,  was  employed  to  compass  the  defeat 
of  the  bill.  It  so  happened  that  the  Otoe  delegation  were  Democrats, 
and  Senator  Mills  S.  Reeves,  of  Nebraska  City,  had  been  a  bitter  rebel, 
who  had  disliked  the  name  of  Lincoln  more  than  he  conld  that  of 
Satan.  The  name  of  the  proposed  new  town,  as  the  removal  bill  was 
at  first  drawn,  was  "Capital  City,"  Knowing  the  intense  prejudice 
of  Senator  Reeves,  Senator  J.  H.  N.  Patrick,  of  Omaha,  rose  in  his 
place,  and  moved  that  the  bill  be  amended  by  striking  out  the  name 
''Capital  City,"  and  substituting  that  of  "Lincoln." 

Instantly  Senator  Reeves  was  upon  his  feet  calling,  "Mr.  Presi- 
dent!" 

"The  Senator  from  Otoe  has  the  floor,"  said  the  President  of  the 
Senate. 

"I  second  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  Douglas,"  said  Senator 
Reeves,  in  a  quick,  firm  voice. 

The  South  Platte  men  caught  the  spirit  of  the  performance,  and  at 
once  adopted  the  amendment.  The  bill  was  passed  Avith  the  name  of 
the  illustrious  Lincoln  in  it,  and  so  the  new  capital  became  Lincoln. 
Thus  Nebraska's  capital  bears  the  name  it  does  as  the  result  of  an  at- 
tempted sharp  trick,  designed  to  defeat  the  removal  bill,  and  not  ow- 
ing to  the  admiration  of  the  first  State  Legislature  for  the  great  war 
President. 

During  the  fight  the  greatest  bitterness  was  displayed  on  the  part 
of  the  anti-removalists,  and  a  great  many  amusing  incidents  are  re- 
lated of  the  men  and  times.  During  the  great  fight  in  the  last  Terri- 
torial Legislature,  when  pandemonium  reigned  supreme,  and  shotguns 
and  revolvers  played  the  most  significant  part  in  the  Legislative  pro- 
ceedings, Jim  Creighton  (as  he  was  called  then)  heard  the  noise  of  the 
contention  at  one  of  its  fiercest  parts,  from  below  in  the  office  of  Au- 
ditor Gillespie.  Rushing  out  with  uncovered  head,  and  flaming  eye 
and  cheek,  he  sought  for  some  weapon  of  attack.  An  old  mop  stick 
belonging  to  Father  Reals  was  found  by  the  irate  Creighton,  and  seiz- 
ing this,  he  hurried  to  the  door  of  the  chamber,  exclaiming,  "  I'll  clean 

out  the  whole  of  those  d d  South  Platte  people !"  at  the  same  time 

tearing  the  rag  from  the  mop,  in  order  to  make  of  it  a  more  murderous 
weapon.   But  before  "Jim  "  got  to  the  door,  the  South  Platte  ])eople,  led 


REMOVAL    OF   THE    CAPITAL.  109 

by  the  Speaker,  with  oun  in  hand,  burst  open  the  door  of  the  chamber 
and  escaped.  Their  numbers  were  too  large  for  the  valorous  Creighton, 
and  he  dropped  his  mopstick  and  disappeared.  Creighton  undoubt- 
edly had  plenty  of  nerve,  but  nerve  has  a  peculiar  faculty  of  disap- 
pearing under  the  finger  nails  on  certain  occasions,  and  this  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  those  occasions. 

During  the  time  the  Commissioners  were  out  on  their  tour  of  inspec- 
tion, trying  to  decide  where  the  capital  should  be  located,  they  came 
to  Ashland,  and  it  is  just  as  well  to  remark  right  here  that  Ashland 
lost  the  site  of  the  capital  because  of  the  mosquitoes.  There  were  a 
number  of  men  with  the  party  besides  the  Commissioners,  and  upon 
stopping  at  Ashland  over  night,  the  whole  party  was  lodged  in  the 
upper  story  of  a  building,  the  windows  guiltless  of  glass  or  blinds; 
that  is,  all  of  the  party  except  Governor  Butler.  He  was  considered 
the  big  chief  of  the  party,  and  was  lodged  in  a  lower  room,  in  a  bed 
surrounded  carefully  and  completely  with  mosquito  netting.  The 
Governor  slept  soundly  and  refreshingly,  but  the  other  Commis- 
sioners and  their  friends  spent  a  night  of  wild,  uncontrollable  emotion 
and  vigorous  action,  trying  as  best  they  could  to  protect  themselves 
against  the  little  pests,  whose  musical  wings  and  insatiable  appetites 
kept  the  unfortunate  ones  awake.  Morning  dawned,  and  the  weary 
ones,  among  whom  was  a  preacher,  together  with  the  one  whose  sleep 
had  been  as  peaceful  and  restful  as  that  of  a  child  whose  innocence  and 
youth  bring  it  sweet  dreams  and  quiet  slumbers,  departed  to  view  the 
other  landscapes.  As  the  little  village  of  Ashland  faded  into  the  mist 
across  the  prairie,  the  preacher  broke  the  silence  by  exclaiming :  "  Well, 
there  may  be  one  man  who  will  vote  for  Ashland,  but  if  Governor 
Butler  has  any  help  in  his  vote,  it  will  surprise  me."  The  mosqui- 
toes had  fixed  the  business  so  far  as  Ashland  Avas  concerned.  It  may 
be  that  a  few  of  those  winged  songsters  yet  linger  around  the  old-time 
scenes  of  this  classic  (to  Nebraska)  town,  but  they  can  never  do  the 
harm  their  ancestors  accomplished  in  the  days  of '67. 

When  the  Commissioners  had  -'•  swung  around  the  circle,"  and  had 
seen  all  the  sites  which  aspired  to  become  the  seat  of  government  of 
the  new  State,  they  returned  by  way  of  Yankee  Hill,  the  site  of  John 
Cadman  and  the  Nebraska  City  schemers.  The  Yankee  Hill  people  had 
a  banquet  prepared,  with  all  the  delicacies  of  the  season  of  1867,  on 
Salt  creek.    The  feast  was  spread  on  a  long  table,  which  fairly  groaned 


110  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

M-ith  the  fine  eookins:  of  the  Yankee  Hill  ladies.  What  astonished 
one  Commissioner  most  was  that  the  ladies  had  in  some  way  supplied 
ice  cream,  doubtless  the  first  ever  seen  in  Lancaster  county.  How  it 
was  gotten  out  in  the  wild  region  of  the  Salt  Basin,  the  officials  never 
knew.  Mrs.  Cadman  and  her  sister  had  managed  the  preparation  of 
the  feast,  and  when  the  Commissioners  came  over  to  Lancaster,  the 
place  which  had  beaten  Yankee  Hill  for  the  county  seat  in  1864, 
and  located  the  capital  there,  those  ladies  could  hardly  forgive  them. 
They  declined  to  recognize  the  Commissioners  for  six  months  or  more, 
and  they  finally  informed  one  of  the  officials  that  they  did  not  see  how 
he  failed  to  be  captured  by  such  a  feast  as  they  had  enjoyed  at  Yankee 
Hill.  Mr.  Cadman  himself  felt  pretty  sore  over  the  success  of  Lan- 
caster, but  soon  got  over  it,  and  became  a  business  man  in  the  new 
capital,  and  still  so  continues,  in  company  with  his  son,  on  North 
Tenth  street,  between  P  and  Q,  though  not  a  resident  of  the  city  him- 
self. The  business,  that  of  hardware,  is  conducted  by  Mr,  W.  A. 
Cadman,  the  son. 

The  South  Platte  country  never  could  have  agreed  on  Yankee  Hill, 
M'hich  was  Nebraska  City's  site.  Lancaster  was  taken  as  a  compro- 
mise, to  avoid  a  split  in  the  section  which  had  carried  the  removal 
bill,  and  was  then  trying  to  consummate  the  transaction.  The  com- 
promise site  was  successful,  being  supported  by  Nebraska  City, 
Plattsmouth,  and  Ashland,  and  now  is  three  times  as  large  as  all  of 
them  combined. 

But  through  all  the  discouragements,  the  worry,  the  difficulties,  and 
the  trials,  the  Commission  persisted,  and  finally  the  capitol  was  lo- 
cated where  it  now  stands. 

The  incidents  attending  the  removal  of  the  capitol  are  also  interest- 
ing. The  people  of  Omaha  seemed  to  be  determined  to  prevent  the 
taking  away  of  the  Government  effects,  and  hence  it  Avas  deemed  better 
to  send  the  State  library  and  other  capitol  belongings  away  by  night, 
so  as  to  avoid  any  op]iosition.  Accordingly  Auditor  Gillespie  secured 
a  contract  from  Mr.  J.  T.  Beach,  of  Lincoln,  for  moving  the  goods. 
Mr.  Beach  had  arrived  in  the  town  in  the  spring  of  1868,  and  the 
removal  was  made  in  the  early  winter,  probably  about  the  middle  of 
December.  Mr.  Beach  is  now  nearly  fifty  years  of  age,  the  fourth  of 
October,  1889,  completing  the  first  half  century  of  his  existence,  and 
he   remembers  the  occurrences   of  those  days  very  distinctly.     Mr. 


KEMOVAL    OF    THE   CAPITAL^  HI 


iie 


Beach  was  boru  in  Brown  county,  Ohio,  October  4,  1839,  where  1 
lived  until  he  was  ten  years  old.  At  that  time  his  parents  moved 
to  Indiana,  where  he  lived  with  them  for  a  number  of  years.  la 
1861  he  enlisted  in  the  army,  in  the  Tenth  Indiana  Infantry,  and 
served  three  years.  So  that  when  Mr.  Beach  came  to  Nebraska,  in 
1868,  he  had  had  a  recent  training  that  well  fitted  him  for  the  work 
Avhich  he  undertook  to  do. 

Securing  the  services  of  a  Mr.  Carr,  yet  a  resident  of  Lincoln,  to  help 
him,  Mr.  Beach  started  with  a  two-horse  team,  and  Mr.  Carr  with  four 
horses,  to  move  the  capitol  to  Lincoln.  They  crossed  the  Platte  at 
Ashland,  the  drifting  ice  making  the  crossing  very  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous. Along  with  these  two  men  was  Luke  Cropsey,  a  son  of  A. 
J.  Cropsey,  who  rendered  valuable  assistance  during  the  trip.  The 
trip  occupied  nearly  a  day  and  a  half,  for  on  the  second  morning,  (Sat- 
urday,) at  11  o'clock,  the  party,  with  the  tw^o  covered  wagons,  drove 
into  Omaha,  and  put  up  at  the  old  checkered  barn,  one  of  the  early 
landmarks  of  the  "city  by  the  Big  Muddy."  In  the  afternoon  Mr. 
Beach  went  to  the  State  House,  and  had  a  conference  with  Mr.  Gilles- 
pie, who  strictly  enjoined  upon  him  secrecy  as  to  his  mission  to  Omaha, 
and  made  arrangements  for  loading  the  furniture.  After  night-fall 
of  Sunday  the  library,  furniture,  desks,  and  everything  else  that  was 
wanted  at  the  new  capitol,  were  loaded  in  the  two  covered  wagons, 
ready  for  the  return  trip.  At  4  o'clock  Monday  morning  the  start 
for  Lincoln  was  made,  and  miles  of  ground  had  been  covered  before 
the  people  of  Omaha  awoke.  Mr.  Beach  and  his  assistants  came  by 
the  way  of  Plattsmouth.  When  that  hamlet  was  reached  the  snow 
was  coming  down  fiercely  and  heavily,  and  a  stop  was  made  until 
morning,  as  it  was  considered  too  dangerous  to  cross  the  river  in  the 
condition  in  which  the  ferry  then  was.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  ferry  was  repaired,  and  the  party  crossed  the  river  with 
much  inconvenience  and  considerable  danger.  The  journey  was  con- 
tinued until  night-fall,  through  a  blinding  snow  storm.  As  night 
approached  Stove  creek  was  several  miles  distant,  and  the  only  shel- 
ter visible  was  the  dugout  of  a  settler  on  the  open  prairie.  Going  to 
the  door  of  this  cabin  Mr.  Beach  asked  for  shelter  for  the  night  for 
himself  and  two  companions,  and  a  place  to  shield  their  teams  from 
the  elements.  The  settler  refused,  on  the  ground  of  want  of  accom- 
modations ;  but  our  travelers  were  not  thus  to  be  refused,  and  upon' 


112  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

pressing  their  need  were  allowed  to  shelter  their  horses  by  a  hay 
stack,  and  bunk  themselves  upon  the  floor  of  the  cabin.  The  night 
passed,  and  Avhen  the  morning  came  ]Mr.  Beach  informed  his  host 
that  the  party  was  without  money,  told  him  what  their  errand  was, 
and  offered  to  paMn  two  watches  as  security  for  the  payment  of  the 
amount  due  for  the  night's  lodging  and  breakfast.  This  the  old 
settler  refused,  and  the  teamsters  departed  for  Lincoln,  which  place 
they  reached  on  Wednesday  night,  promising  to  send  the  pay  for  their 
lodging  as  soon  as  they  reached  Lincoln,  which  promise  they  kept. 
Five  days  the  journey  occupied,  and  when  it  was  finished  the  whole 
of  the  State  library  and  other  needed  capitol  appliances  were  safely 
lodged  within  the  walls  of  the  building. 

The  cost  of  transfering  this  property  was  over  $100.  Mr.  Beach 
took  $60  in  money  with  him  and  a  check  of  $40  on  a  Lincoln  bank. 
AVhen  the  money  was  exhausted,  in  Omaha,  Mr.  Beach  tried  to  cash 
the  check,  but  the  Omaha  banks  proposed  to  charge  him  a  ruinous 
discount,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  kindly  assistance  of  Mr.  Gil- 
lespie, who  cashed  the  check  free  of  charge,  a  row  would  have  re- 
sulted. Mr.  Carr  avers  that  he  has  never  been  paid  in  full  for  the 
services  of  himself  and  his  four-horse  team  while  engaged  in  this  en- 
terprise, and  as  no  one  seems  to  dispute  his  claim,  it  is  probable  that 
some  one,  possibly  the  city  of  Lincoln,  owes  him  more  than  a  simple 
debt  of  gratitude.  But  the  whole  affair  was  conducted  in  a  most  sat- 
isfactory manner,  and  the  capitol  was  in  reality  lost  to  Omaha. 

At  that  time  the  people  of  Omaha  were  not  very  well  pleased  with 
the  course  events  were  taking,  which  the  following  incident  will  illus- 
trate, and  will  also  serve  to  show  how  carefully  the  work  of  removal 
was  done.  A  few  days  after  the  library  had  disappeared  across  the 
prairie,  John  R.  ISIeredith,  of  Omaha,  dropped  into  Auditor  Gilles- 
pie's office  in  the  afternoon,  and,  noticing  the  empty  shelves,  inquired 
where  the  library  had  gone. 

"It  has  gone  to  Lincoln,"  said  Mr.  Gillespie. 

"AVho  sent  it  there,  and  by  what  authority  was  it  sent?"  was  Mr. 
Meredith's  next  question. 

"I  sent  it  there,"  said  Gillespie,  "by  the  authority  vested  in  me  by 
the  State  Legislature." 

Meredith  left,  and  soon  (xen.  S.  A.  Strickland  stormed  into  the  Au- 
ditor's office,  with  about  the  same  interrogatories,  which  were  answered 
in  about  the  same  manner. 


REMOVAL   OF   THE   CAPITAL.  113 

"*  Where  is  that  library?"  said  the  General. 

"In  Lincoln,  the  State  capital,  "  calmly  answered  Gillespie. 

"By  the  eternals  that  library  is  coming  back  here,  and  it 's  eomino; 
right  a^yay,"  stormed  Strickland. 

All  this  bluster  and  blow  did  not  disturb  Gillespie,  who  quietly 
asked  how  the  General's  purpose  was  to  be  accomplished.  Gen- 
Strickland  then  said  that  the  library  belonged  to  the  Territory  of" 
Nebraska,  and  as  Omaha  was  the  capital  of  the  Territory,  the  library 
belonged  to  Omaha,  and  that  he  would  get  an  order  from  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  for  its  replacement  in  Omaha.  Mr.  Gillespie  smiled, 
and  merely  asked  that  when  Gen.  Strickland  received  the  letter  he 
might  be  allowed  a  chance  to  read  it,  which  the  General  readily  ac- 
ceded to.  jNIatters  quieted  down,  and  remained  so  for  some  weeks, 
when  one  day  Mr.  Gillespie  asked  Gen.  Strickland  if  he  had  heard 
from  Washington  yet.  The  General  unwillingly  admitted  that  he 
Jiad,  and  that  the  reply  was  unfavorable  to  Omaha's  claims.  This 
«nded  the  skirmishing  and  kicking.  The  capital  was  removed,  and 
«ince  then  no  attempt  of  alarming  proportions  has  been  made  to  haye 
ihe  capital  location  changed. 


114  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Difficulties  Experienced  in  Building  the  New  Capitol — How 
Omaha  Opposition  Delayed  the  Work  —  The  Final  Success  and 
Meeting  of  the  First  Legislature  in  Lincoln. 

The  days  of  the  capital  removal,  capital  location,  and  capitol  build- 
ing, were  full  of  stirring  events,  times  of  intense  interest  to  the  peo- 
ple then  and  now,  when  serious  situations,  which  demanded  prompt, 
energetic,  and  clear  headed  action,  were  often  met  with.  During  these 
times,  Hon.  John  Gillesi)ie,  State  Auditor,  and  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners to  locate  the  capital,  played  an  important  part,  and  to  him 
the  authors  of  this  history  are  indebted  for  the  following,  which  was 
contributed  entire  by  him  : 

The  act  authorizing  the  capitol  location  appointed  the  Governor,, 
Secretary,  and  Auditor,  Commissioners  to  seek  a  location,  within  the 
boundaries  of  Lancaster,  Saunders,  Butler,  Seward,  and  the  north  half 
of  Saline  county,  to  be  located  upon  State  Lands,  of  not  less  than  640 
acres  in  one  tract,  and  to  lay  out  and  plat  the  same  in  lots,  blocks, 
streets,  and  alleys,  and  make  proper  reservations  for  the  several  State 
institutions;  when  the  same  was  completed  to  advertise  the  lots  for 
sale  at  public  auction  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  when  the  sales 
amounted  to  the  aggregate  of  $50,000,  then  in  that  event  to  advertise 
for  plans  and  specifications  for  a  capitol  building,  and  let  the  con- 
tract for  building  the  same.  The  Legislature  did  not  appropriate  a 
dollar  from  the  Treasury  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  act,  but 
all  incidental  expenses,  as  well  as  the  completion  of  a  capitol  build- 
ing, depended  upon  receipts  from  the  sale  of  lots.  The  Commissioners 
well  understood  that  the  success  of  the  enterprise  depended  upon  a 
most  favorable  selection  for  the  future  capital  of  the  State.  Other- 
wise a  most  stupendous  failure,  that  would  result  in  ignominy  to  the 
movers,  especially  the  Commissioners  having  it  in  charge,  would  fol- 
low. After  the  passage  of  the  act,  and  before  the  Commissioners 
entered  upon  their  work,  difficulties  multiplied,  owing  to  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  North  Platte  people,  and  especially  from  the  citizens  of 
( )maha. 


BUILDING    THE    NEW    CAPITOL.  115 

The  citizens  of  that  city  were  particularly  opposed  to  the  capital's 
removal  from  their  midst,  and  commenced  an  opposition  to  prevent 
the  carrying  out  of  the  enterprise.  The  Commissioners  had  to  enter 
into  a  bond  of  $60,000  each  for  the  faithful  performance  of  duty.  They 
did  not  hope  or  expect  that  Omaha  citizens  would  sign  their  bonds 
and  had  to  look  to  other  localities.  Nebraska  City  was  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  the  removal  of  the  capital  from  Omaha  to  the  South  Platte 
country,  and  her  best  citizens  volunteered  as  bondsmen  for  the  Com- 
missioners, an  offer  which  was  most  duly  accepted  and  appreciated. 

But  there  arose  another  difficulty :  the  bonds  had  to  be  approved 
by  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  to  be  deposited  with 
the  State  Treasurer,  Mr.  August  Kountze,  of  Omaha.  Previous  to 
filing  the  bonds,  a  Mr.  James  E.  Doom,  a  member  from  Cass  county, 
(who  voted  for  the  capital  removal,)  reported  to  the  Omaha  newspa- 
pers that  the  time  prescribed  by  law  for  filing  the  bonds  of  the  Com- 
missioners had  expired.  So  the  Omaha  Repuhlican  came  out  with  a 
"double  header,"  stating  that  the  capital-removal  enterprise  had  failed, 
by  virtue  of  the  Commissioners  not  having  filed  their  bonds  in  time, 
as  prescribed  by  law,  and  therefore  could  not  give  good  title  to  the 
lands.  The  writer  hereof  had  started  that  morning  by  steamboat  to 
Nebraska  City,  to  have  the  bonds  approved  by  Hon.  O.  P.  INIason, 
Chief  Justice,  preparatory  to  filing  them.  News  had  reached  that  city 
of  the  announcement  made  in  the  Omaha  papers.  In  consultation 
with  the  Chief  Justice,  he  said  there  was  nothing  in  the  statement,  nor 
had  the  time  prescribed  elapsed.  The  bonds  Avere  returned  to  Omaha. 
Governor  Butler  and  Secretary  Kennard,  accompanied  by  C.  H.  Gere 
and  Col.  C.  S.  Chase,  repaired  to  the  First  National  Bank  of  that  city, 
and  tendered  the  bonds  to  the  State  Treasurer  for  filing.  Mr.  Kountze 
said  to  them  that  he  would  not  file  the  bonds,  as  they  were  not  valid, 
the  time  for  filing  by  law  having  passed;  but  he  would  place  them 
in  the  vault.  The  pi'oposition  was  satisfactory  to  the  other  two  Com- 
missioners, and  they  left. 

The  writer  lived  in  Omaha  at  that  time,  and  had  to  meet  the  abuse 
and  denunciations  of  her  citizens,  who  openly  charged  the  capital  re- 
movers as  "land-grabbers"  and  enemies  of  Omaha.  Several  of  her 
leading  citizens  tried  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  have  me  not 
file  the  bonds,  and  let  the  act  become  "  null  and  void."  One,  now  high 
up  in  authority  in  this  State,  spent  several  hours  with  me  at  my  office. 


116  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

in  the  old  capitol  at  Omaha,  trying  to  persuade  me  not  to  file  the 
bonds,  and  have  the  law  become  void,  claiming  that  if  carried  out  it 
would  ''disrupt  the  party."  The  interview  was  finally  cut  short  by 
my  informing  him  that  "I  was  into  it,  and  would  see  it  through." 
The  Commissioners,  after  looking  the  field  over  which  was  designated 
by  the  act,  selected  the  site  where  the  city  now  stands.  This  conclu- 
sion was  arrived  at  by  a  careful  examination  of  a  State  map  and  the 
general  topography  of  the  country.  They  concluded  that  in  the  future, 
when  railroads  were  built  south  of  the  Platte,  this  point  would  be 
easily  reached  and  accessible  from  any  direction.  And  a  further  con- 
sideration, at  that  time  deemed  important,  was  the  great  salt  deposits 
near  by,  considered  valuable. 

But  in  this  selection  no  one,  except  the  few  homesteaders  on  the 
town  site,  was  pleased.  The  citizens  of  Nebraska  City  wanted  the 
capital  located  at  Yankee  Hill,  on  the  line  of  the  "steam-wagon  road  " 
west  to  the  mountains.  Plattsmouth  wanted  the  capital  at  Ashland, 
her  citizens  offering  to  guarantee  $50,000  worth  of  lots  in  case  we 
located  at  Ashland.  Brownville  wanted  the  capital  located  at  Cam- 
den, on  the  Blue  river,  as  they  had  a  railroad  survey  west  by  way  of 
Camden  and  Fort  Kearney.  The  Commissioners  were  beset  by  the 
friends  of  their  favorite  localities,  all  of  which  had  their  land  "syndi- 
cates" formed;  but  the  location  made  was  upon  neutral  grounds,  and 
one  which  proved  the  wisest  selection,  as  the  other  interested  localities 
compromised  upon  this  one,  which  could  not  have  been  effected  at  any 
other  point. 

After  having  the  town  site  surveyed  and  platted,  the  Commissioners 
appointed  a  day  for  the  sale  of  lots  at  auttion,  to  take  place  upon  the 
grounds.  Thereupon  arose  another  serious  difficulty,  that  seemed  to 
threaten  the  defeat  of  the  whole  enterprise.  The  act  required  the  Com- 
missioners to  deposit  the  money  received  from  the  sale  of  lots  with  the 
State  Treasurer,  to  be  designated,  separate  from  any  other  fund,  as  the 
^' State  Building  Fund,"  and  all  expenses  for  incidentals,  buildings, 
etc.,  to  be  i)aid  out  by  the  Treasurer,  upon  the  order  of  the  Auditor, 
the  same  as  other  State  funds.  The  writer  was  informed  by  a  leading- 
attorney  of  Omaha  that  some  of  the  leading  citizens  of  that  city  had 
requested  him  to  conmience  suit  by  enjoining  the  Commissioners,  and 
attaching  the  money  in  the  hands  of  the  State  Treasurer  as  soon  as 
deposited  witii  him,  and  thereby  tie  up  the  same,  and  by  years  of  litiga- 


BUILDING    THE    NEW    CAPITOL.  117 

tion  prevent  the  commencement  of  the  capitol  building.  He  informed 
me  his  fee  Avas  considered  too  large,  and  he  was  not  employed,  but  that 
such  action  would  be  taken  as  soon  as  the  money  resulting  from  the 
sale  of  lots  was  duly  deposited  by  the  Commissioners  Avith  the  State 
Treasurer.  The  Commissioners,  after  considering  the  possibility  of 
such  action  by  the  enemies  of  the  capital  removal,  thereby  defeating 
the  act  of  the  Legislature  authorizing  the  removal  of  the  capital, 
called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  signing  their  bonds,  to  be  held  at  Ne- 
braska City  just  previous  to  the  day  of  the  first  sale  of  lots,  and  laid 
the  situation  before  them.  They  advised  us  to  proceed  with  the  sale 
of  lots,  and  prepared  a  written  request,  asking  us  not  to  deposit  the 
proceeds  of  the  lot  sales  with  the  State  Treasurer,  but  to  use  the  money 
in  carrying  out  the  })rovisions  of  the  law,  paying  for  the  erection  of  a 
capital,  and  report  to  the  coming  Legislature  our  actions  in  full. 

The  sale  of  lots  came  off,  and  was  reasonably  successful ;  so  much  so 
that  the  Commissioners  felt  authorized  to  proceed  to  advertise  for  plans 
and  specifications,  and  to  let  the  contract  for  the  building.  The  funds 
were  kept  in  hiding,  where  no  injunction  or  attachment  could  find  them. 
I  was  often  asked  by  certain  parties  of  Omaha  why  the  money  for  the 
sale  of  Lincoln  lots  was  not  placed  with  the  State  Treasurer,  as  the 
law  directed.  When  pressed,  one  of  the  citizens  said  they  wanted  to 
enjoin  the  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  from  being  paid  out, 
and  thus  keep  us  from  building  the  capitol  at  Lincoln,  I  informed 
the  party  that  the  funds  would  be  turned  over  to  the  State  Treasurer 
the  next  day  to  pay  his  bill  for  advertising.  The  bills  of  the  Repub- 
lican and  Herald  for  advertising  lot  sales,  for  plans  and  specifications, 
and  for  letting  the  contract,  had  been  handed  in.  I  deposited  with 
the  Treasurer  a  sum  sufiicient  to  pay  their  bills,  and  if  they  wished 
to  enjoin  payment,  all  right.  The  orders  of  payment  were  given, 
the  money  paid  out,  the  Treasurer  receipting  for  the  same,  and  ac- 
knowledged the  authority  of  the  Board  by  paying  the  money  out  on 
the  order  of  the  Auditor  of  State. 

The  first  sale  of  lots  took  place  in  the  fall  of  1867.  The  follow- 
ing Legislature  convened  the  first  of  January,  1869;  hence  the  neces- 
sity of  getting  the  capitol  building  under  contract  at  as  early  a  day  as 
possible,  having  the  summer  of  1868  to  complete  the  same.  As  there 
were  no  railroads,  lumber  had  to  be  hauled  from  a  point  six  miles  east 
of  Nebraska  City,  on  the  Council  Bluffs  &  St.  Joseph  railroad.   Stono 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN'. 

quarries  had  to  be  found  somewhere  for  building-  material.  The  Com- 
missioners advertised  for  plans  in  the  Omaha,  Plattsmouth,  and  Ne- 
braska City  papers.  The  time  drawing  near,  we  found  that  the  Omaha 
architects  would  pay  no  attention  to  our  advertisement,  and  the  result 
would  be  no  plans  offered,  so  we  sent  a  copy  of  our  ''ad"  to  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune,  which  caught  the  eye  of  a  fifth -rate  architect,  ]\lr.  James 
Morris,  who  could  obtain  no  work  in  that  city,  and  he  hastily  pre- 
pared a  plan  and  presented  the  same  on  the  day  set.  It  being  the  only 
plan  presented,  the  Commissioners  were  more  than  pleased  to  adopt  it. 
The  plan  contemplated  a  central  building,  with  wings  to  be  attached 
afterward,  which,  if  added,  would  have  made  a  symmetrical  building, 
but  Avithout  the  wings  not  very  imposing.  Consequently,  in  after 
years  the  Commissioners  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  many  jeers  on  their 
architectural  choice  for  a  capital  building. 

^ye  advertised  for  letting  the  contract,  and  as  in  the  former  case, 
but  one  bid  was  offered,  that  one  by  Mr.  Joseph  A^ard,  of  Chicago, 
which  was  also  accepted.  He  commenced  at  once,  and  had  the  exca- 
vation made  and  part  of  the  foundation  laid  in  the  fall  of  1867,  in- 
tending in  the  spring  of  18G8  to  push  the  work  as  fast  as  possible,  and 
have  the  building  completed  in  time  for  the  Governor  to  announce  by 
proclamation  the  completion  of  the  capitol,  and  that  the  next  Legisla- 
ture would  convene  tliereat  on  the  first  Thursday  of  January,  1869. 

A  stone  quarry  of  blue  limestone  was  found  twelve  miles  south 
on  Salt  creek,  and  the  contractor  instructed  to  use  the  same ;  but  after 
using  it  on  the  east  side  of  the  building,  on  the  first  story,  it  became 
shelly,  and  this  quarry  had  to  be  al)andoned.  A  man  was  sent  out 
on  horseback,  who  prospected  a  number  of  days  all  the  streams  in 
the  vicinity  for  out-cropping  stone  without  success,  but  finally  visited 
Beatrice  and  reported  a  magnesia  limestone  in  abundance,  and  easily 
dressed,  which  would  harden  by  exposure.  This  stone  was  adopted, 
and  all  the  teams  that  could  be  hired  put  on  the  road  for  Beatrice, 
(fifty  miles,)  to  keep  the  work  moving.  This  worked  well  for  a  short 
time,  until  we  were  notified  by  the  contractor  that  the  bridge  over 
Salt  creek  iiad  become  dangerous,  and  that  the  owners  of  teams  would 
not  risk  crossing,  and  that  the  County  Commissioners  refused  to  re- 
pair the  bridge.  This  required  our  presence  to  get  the  Commissioners 
to  repair  the  l)ridge;  all  of  which,  with  bad  roads  and  the  intermina- 
ble sloughs  iind  nuid-li(»U's,  made  the  getting  of  stone  from   Beati'ice, 


BUILDING   THE    NEW    CAPITOL.  119 

and  the  lumber  from  Iowa,  slow,  difficult,  and  expensive,  and  the 
summer  rapidly  passing  away.  The  Commissioners  were  fully  im- 
pressed that  in  case  of  failure  to  complete  the  capitol  in  time  for  the 
convening  of  the  Legislature  the  coming  January,  the  session  would 
have  to  be  held  at  Omaha,  and  the  strong  probabilities  Mere  that 
Lincoln  would  never  see  a  session  held  there,  which  no  doubt  would 
have  been  true.  The  contractor  was  constantly  being  urged  to  em- 
ploy all  the  mechanics  that  could  be  worked  to  advantage,  and  con- 
sequently he  had  stone-cutters  and  carpenters  sent  out  from  Chicago. 
About  the  1st  of  June,  1868,  I  received  a  letter  at  Omaha  from 
the  contractor,  that  he  had  thrown  up  the  job,  and  all  work  had 
stopped,  on  account  of  a  difficulty  with  the  architect;  that  a  number 
of  his  stone-cutters  had  left  for  Chicago;  and  to  come  down  and 
make  settlement  with  him.  This  was  a  terrible  crisis,  and  visions  of 
a  most  glorious  failure  of  the  whole  enterprise  loomed  up  most  too 
prominent  for  a  calm  view  of  the  situation ;  but  something  had  to  be 
done,  and  done  quickly.  Unfortunately  neither  of  the  other  two 
Commissioners  were  at  Omaha  at  the  time,  the  Governor  being  at  his 
home  at  Pawnee,  and  the  Secretary  at  his  home  at  De  Soto,  I  sent  a 
messenger  from  Omaha,  by  steam-boat,  to  Nebraska  City,  with  an 
order  to  the  "Elephant  Stable"  for  a  pony  to  carry  a  message  to  the 
Governor  explaining  the  situation,  and  asking  him  to  meet  me  at 
Lincoln  the  next  day  without  fail.  I  took  stage  next  morning  for 
■Council  Bluffs,  to  take  train  for  East  Nebraska  City,  intending  to 
take  stage  from  that  point  to  Lincoln,  but  owing  to  the  stage  sticking 
in  the  mud  half-way  between  the  two  cities,  I  saw  the  train  pull  out, 
leaving  several  other  passengers  with  myself  behind.  I  returned  to 
Omaha  by  the  next  stage,  hired  a  livery  team,  and  started  for  Lincoln 
via  the  rope  ferry  across  the  Platte  river  near  Ashland,  being  delayed 
two  hours  in  finding  the  ferryman.  When  I  arrived  at  liincoln, 
about  11  A.M.  the  next  day,  I  found  the  citizens  much  disheartened, 
and  fearful  that  the  work  on  the  building  would  not  be  reneAved.  I 
soon  set  their  minds  at  rest  on  that  point.  Dunbar  &  Bailey,  who 
owned  the  only  livery  stable  in  the  city,  and  had  the  contract  to 
deliver  the  stone,  had  drawn  off  all  their  teams,  a  number  of  the 
mechanics  had  left,  and  the  prospect  was  blue  enough.  I  waited 
all  next  day  and  the  following  day  till  noon  for  the  arrival  of  the 
Governor.     He  did  not  put  in  an  appearance.      I  called  in  James 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

Sweet,  State  Treasurer,  wlio  had  just  arrived  from  Nebraska  City,, 
to  be  present  when  I  should  sumuion  the  architect  and  contractor^, 
and  hear  their  differences,  previously  having  refused  to  hear  either 
one  until  the  arrival  of  the  Governor.  I  requested  ]\Ir.  Morris^ 
(architect,)  to  bring  with  him  the  plans  and  specifications,  and  meet 
me  at  my  room  in  the  Cadman  House  at  1  p.m.  He  repaired  to  the 
shop  on  the  capitol  grounds,  and  was  in  the  act  of  taking  the  plans 
from  the  contractor's  desk,  when  the  contractor  came  in  and  kicked 
him  out  of  the  shop.  Both  being  English,  the  backs  of  both  were 
"high"  when  they  reached  my  room.  I  first  heard  the  architect, 
then  the  contractor.  The  lie  passed  frequently  between  them;  but 
in  pcttinir  at  the  facts  I  found  the  difference  arose  about  the  ma- 
terial  to  go  into  the  interior  walls  of  the  building.  The  contractor 
claimed  that  it  should  be  sandstone,  as  that  material  was  at  hand,  and 
its  use  Avould  enable  him  to  proceed  with  the  work.  The  architect 
claimed  that  the  walls  should  be  brick.  I  asked  j\Ir.  Sweet  to  turn 
to  the  specification,  which  said  tlie  walls  should  be  brick,  "if  brick 
could  be  had,  otherwise  stone."  I  said  I  would  settle  that  point,  and 
as  there  were  no  brick  here,  nor  none  being  made,  instructed  the  con- 
tractor to  put  up  the  walls  with  stone.  The  architect  objected,  and 
said  I  Avas  only  one  of  the  Commissioners.  I  told  him  that  icas  law, 
and  the  other  two  would  confirm  the  decision,  I  explained  to  both 
that  if  they  did  not  propose  to  each  do  his  duty,  and  push  the  work 
to  completion,  we  would  remove  both,  I  was  satisfied  that  the  arch- 
itect wished  the  contractor  to  leave,  so  he  could  become  contractor  as 
well.  Both  shook  hands,  and  each  promised  to  do  his  best  to  com- 
plete the  building  in  time  for  the  coming  session.  I  instructed  Dun- 
bar ct  Bailey  to  hire  all  the  teams  they  could  get  in  the  country,  and 
rush  the  stone  from  Beatrice,  and  on  my  return  to  Omaha  employed 
twelve  stonecutters  and  sent  them  by  wagon  'post  haste  for  Lincoln, 
and  work  was  resumed  with  considerable  energy. 

About  two  weeks  afterward  ]Mr.  Ward,  contractor,  came  into  my 
office  at  Omaha  with  a  Mr.  Sweet,  on  his  way  to  Chicago  to  buy  doors^ 
sash,  glass,  hardware,  etc.  He  had  an  estimate  for  $2,600,  of  which 
'SI, 000  was  to  go  to  Mr.  Sweet  for  money  advanced  to  pay  his  men 
Ijefore  leaving.  It  was  then  about  four  o'clock  p.m.  \\c  had  no 
inone/j  on  hand,  Init  I  dare  not  tell  him  so,  or  else  there  would  have 
Ijeen  a  "cyclone"  at  hand.     J   asked   him   where  he  was  stoppings 


BUILDING    THE    NEW    CAPITOL.  121 

He  said  at  the  "Planters,"  and  that  they  would  leave  the  next  morn- 
ing on  the  4  a.  m.  train.  I  told  him  I  would  see  him  that  evening 
at  the  hotel.  Where  the  twenty-six  hundred  dollars  was  to  come 
from,  I  did  not  know.  After  "bluing"  over  the  situation  for  a 
short  time,  I  went  to  the  office  of  W.  J.  Hahn,  County  Treasurer, 
and  asked  if  he  had  on  hand  any  "State  sinking  funds"  to  be  turned 
over.  His  reply  was  that  he  had.  I  told  him  I  wanted  $2,600,  and 
as  our  next  sale  of  lots  took  place  the  next  week,  I  would  turn  that 
amount  into  the  State  Treasury  at  Lincoln  and  bring  back  the 
Treasurer's  receipt.  He  gave  me  his  check  for  $2,600  on  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Omaha,  and  I  started  oif  to  get  it  cashed  before 
closing,  but  found  I  was  too  late.  I  explained  the  situation  to  Mr. 
Aug.  Kountze.  He  said  it  was  contrary  to  custom,  but  he  opened 
the  vault  and  paid  me  the  money,  which  was  carried  to  Mr.  Ward, 
and  delivered  in  a  manner  that  conveyed  the  impression  that  the 
enterprise  should  not  fail  for  want  of  funds.  Thus  this  difficulty 
was  bridged  over,  and  the  receipt  of  the  Treasurer  was  forwarded  Mr. 
Hahn  the  following  week  for  the  money  deposited. 

The  next  crisis  to  be  met  was  more  serious,  and  not  so  easily  passed 
over.  Our  last  sale  of  lots  was  to  be  in  September,  1868.  Hoping 
thereby  to  realize  enough  to  complete  and  pay  for  the  building,  we 
had  requested  Sweet  &  Brock,  l)ankers  at  Lincoln,  to  advance  to  the 
contractor  money  as  he  needed  it,  before  the  sale  of  lots  took  place, 
and  also  requested  the  contractor  to  put  off  paying  for  material  until 
after  the  sale,  hoping  that  Ave  would  not  be  pressed  for  funds.  But 
in  this  we  were  disappointed.  I  received  a  letter  from  Nelson  C. 
Brock  that  their  bank  had  advanced  $2,000  to  the  contractor,  and  call- 
ing for  the  return  of  the  same  at  once;  also  by  the  same  mail  a  letter 
from  the  contractor  sayiug  that  he  would  discharge  all  the  stone-cut- 
ters and  laborers  the  coming  Saturday,  and  would  require  $2,000  to 
pay  them  off.  Unfortunately  the  other  two  Commissioners  were  not 
at  the  capital,  and  this  eiuergency  had  to  be  met.  I  started  for  Ne- 
braska City,  and  called  upon  James  Thorn,  County  Treasurer,  and 
found  he  had  on  hand  sinking  funds  sufficient  to  meet  the  emergencies, 
and  willingly  offered  to  turn  it  over  and  take  the  Treasurer's  receipt 
for  the  same.     Thus  this  last  difficulty  was  bridged  over. 

In  1871  a  constitutional  convention  met  in  Lincoln  and  commenced 
to  investigate  County  Treasurers,  supposing  they  were  loaning  State 
9 


122  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

funds.  Mr.  Thorn,  with  others,  was  called  upon  for  a  report  of  the 
collections  and  deposits.  This  circumstance  was  brought  to  light  and 
he  was  asked  to  explain.  He  referred  the  explanation  to  myself.  I 
went  before  the  committee,  of  Avhicli  General  Victor  Yifquain  was 
chairman,  and  stated  the  circumstance  that  a  crisis  had  arrived  in  the 
completion  of  the  capitol ;  that  no  funds  were  on  hand,  and  the  "sink- 
ing fund"  was  used  for  six  weeks  to  help  out  the  "building  fund." 
If  such  had  not  been  done  the  capitol  building  would  never  have  been 
finished,  and  Lincoln  would  not  have  been  here  to-day.  The  com- 
mittee reported  that  no  censure  attached  to  any  one. 

After  the  election  of  1868  and  the  Governor's  proclamation  had 
been  issued  announcing  the  completion  of  the  capitol,  and  that  the 
session  of  the  Legislature  of  January  following  would  convene  at 
Lincoln,  Hon.  C.  B.  Taylor,  Senator-elect  from  Douglas  county,  asked 
me  if  it  was  true,  as  set  forth  in  the  Governor's  message,  that  the 
capitol  was  completed,  and  if  there  were  any  hotel  accommodations  at 
Lincoln.  Being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  said  they  would  "go 
down  and  adjourn  the  Legislature  to  Omaha,  where  they  could  have 
accommodations."  On  the  first  day  of  January,  1869,  I  opened  the 
Auditor's  office  in  the  new  capitol.  On  the  day  before  convening,  the 
Omaha  and  other  delegations  arrived  in  Lincoln,  in  a  blinding  snow 
storm,  by  private  conveyances.  I  met  Taylor  at  the  Atwood  House 
at  dinner.  He  said  he  had  been  looking  out  to  see  the  new  capitol, 
but  had  failed  to  see  it.  I  told  him  it  was  on  account  of  the  snow 
storm,  but  we  had  a  capitol  ready.  He  remarked  that  I  had  informed 
him  correctly  about  the  hotel  accommodations,  and  if  on  presentation 
the  capitol  building  looked  as  well,  he  would  have  no  fault  to  find. 
After  dinner  I  piloted  him,  Tom  Majors,  and  other  members,  across 
the  prairie  to  the  capitol  building.  When  we  entered,  the  plasterers 
were  finishing  up  in  the  lower  halls.  Taylor  reminded  me  of  the 
Governor's  message  issued  some  time  previous,  saying  "the  capitol 
was  finished."  Majors  and  others  at  once  expressed  their  pleasure  and 
surprise  at  seeing  such  a  building.  Taylor,  after  looking  into  the 
Senate  Ghamber,  asked  to  see  the  Representative  Hall.  \\'hen  he  had 
seen  liicse  halls,  with  their  new  carpets,  new  chairs,  and  bright  fur- 
niture, he  was  much  impressed  with  the  success  which  the  Gommis- 
sioners  had  achieved,  and  then  and  tliere  promised  that  the  Douglas 
delegation  would  make  no  fight  on  the  capitol. 


BUILDING    THE    NEW    CAPITOL.  123 

On  organization  of  the  Senate,  C.  B.  Taylor  was  elected  President. 
Next  day  he  came  into  my  office  and  drafted  a  bill  ap]n'opriating 
$16,000  to  grade  and  fence  the  capitol  grounds  and  finish  the  dome 
of  the  capitol.  A  few  days  after  he  drafted  a  bill  to  continue  the 
Commissioners  for  two  years  longer,  to  sell  the  unsold  lots  and  blocks 
and  build  the  State  University,  Agricultural  College,  and  Insane  As}^- 
lum.     Both  bills  became  laws. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  first  Legislature  confidence  was  established, 
and  lots  in  Lincoln  brought  better  prices  at  auction.  There  were  no 
difficulties  in  the  way  to  build  the  other  institutions.  A\'hen  the 
next  two  years  had  passed  the  Commissioners  reported  the  university 
and  asylum  completed,  paid  for,  and  over  300  lots  unsold. 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Ax    IXTERESTINd    DOCUMENT  DEALING   WITH   CAPITAL  REMOVAL — EePORT  OF 

THE  Commissioners  Appointed  to  Select  a  Site  for  the  New  Seat 
OF  Government. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  documents  of  the  early  clays  is  the  re- 
port to  the  Legislature  of  1869  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to 
locate  the  State  capital.  As  far  as  known,  there  is  only  one  of  these 
reports  in  existence  to-day,  it  being  a  document  of  fifty  pages,  bearing 
the  imprint  of  "St.  A.  D.  Balcombe,  State  Printer,  Omaha,  Neb.," 
and  also  bearing  the  legend,  "Published  by  Authority."  Through 
the  kindness  of  Hon,  John  Gillespie  the  authors  of  this  book  are 
enabled  to  reproduce  those  parts  of  the  report  that  are  of  especial  in- 
terest, together  with  a  synopsis  of  the  other  contents  of  the  pamphlet. 
The  document  is  as  follows : 

"REPORT  OF  COMMISSIONERS  TO  LOCATE  THE  SEAT  OF  GOVERN- 
MENT OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEBRASKA. 

"  To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska  : 

"In  pursuance  of  the  requirements  of  the  act  of  the  Legislature 
entitled,  'An  Act  to  provide  for  the  location  of  the  Seat  of  Govern- 
ment of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and  for  the  erection  of  public  build- 
ings thereat,'  approved  June  14,  1867,  the  Commissioners  thereby 
appointed  assembled  at  Nebraska  City  upon  Thursday,  June  18, 1867, 
and  prepared  for  a  personal  examination  of  the  district,  viz.:  'The 
county  of  Seward,  tiie  south  half  of  the  counties  of  Saunders  and  But- 
ler, and  that  portion  of  the  county  of  Lancaster  lying  north  of  the 
south  line  of  township  nine,'  within  which  a  selection  was  to  be  made 
for  the  contemplated  seat  of  the  State  Government. 

"Having  provided  an  outfit,  and  emj)loyiiig  Mr.  Aug.  F.  Harvey 
as  surveyor,  to  ascertain  the  lines  of  the  proposed  sites,  we  left  Ne- 
braska City  on  the  afternoon  of  the  18th  day  of  July,  and  arrived  at 
Lancaster,  in   Lancaster  county,  on  the  evening  of  the  19th.     The 


LOCATING   THE    CAPITAL.  125 

20th  and  22d  were  occupied  in  a  full  examination  of  the  town  sites  of 
Saline  City,  or  ^Yankee  Hill/  as  it  is  more  familiarly  known,  and 
Lancaster,  the  adjacent  lands  on  both  sides  of  Salt  creek,  and  the 
stone  quarries  from  two  to  eight  miles  south  of  the  village. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  July  the  Commissioners  went  down  the 
valley  of  Salt  creek,  examining  on  the  way  a  very  beautiful  and  level 
plateau  about  six  miles  from  Lancaster,  and  near  Stevens  creek,  on 
the  east  side  of  Salt.  Another  site  on  the  west  side  of  Salt,  on  an 
elevated  table  near  Rock  creek,  was  shown  us  by  parties  living  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  who  guided  us  on  an  examining  trip  around 
its  lines. 

"The  23d  Avas  spent  in  reviewing  the  townsite  proposed  on  the 
high  land  west  of  and  adjacent  to  the  village  of  Ashland,  in  the 
southeast  corner  of  Saunders  county.  The  surface  of  this  site  de- 
clined gently  to  the  north  and  east,  sufficiently  for  thorough  drainage, 
and  is  of  such  evenness  that  but  little  expense  will  ever  be  involved 
for  grading.  From  any  part  of  it  a  widely  extended  panorama  is 
spread,  embracing,  as  it  rises,  many  square  miles  in  the  valley  of  the 
Platte  and  Salt  creek.  Timber  is  abundant,  and  inexhaustible  quar- 
ries of  fine  rock  outcrop  along  the  bluffs  near  the  mouth  of  Salt 
creek  and  along  the  Platte,  within  one  to  four  and  five  miles  from 
the  town.  Salt  creek  aifords  excellent  water  power  for  manufactur- 
ing purposes  in  Ashland.  The  distance  of  the  site  is  about  thirty- 
five  miles  from  Plattsmouth,  near  the  efflux  of  Salt  creek  to  the 
Platte. 

"  On  the  25th  we  went  northwesterly  along  the  old  California  trail 
through  Saunders  county,  covering  the  Wahoo  river  near  its  head,  and 
arriving  at  nightfall  at  the  residence  of  J.  D.  Brown,  in  Butler 
county.  L^pon  this  route  Ave  observed  no  situation  of  commanding- 
advantages. 

"Leaving  Mr.  Brown's  on  the  26th,  Ave  looked  over  the  flat  prai- 
rie betAveen  the  heads  of  Oak  creek  and  the  eastern  tributaries  of  the 
Blue,  in  towns  thirteen  and  fourteen  north,  range  tliree  and  four  east, 
in  Butler  county.  Here  is  a  wide  tract  of  unbroken  plain,  upon 
Avhich  Ave  droA^e  for  six  hours  without  seeing  a  depression  in  the  sur- 
face at  either  hand.  We  struck  the  Blue  in  toAvn  fi)urteen  north, 
range  tAVO  east,  passing  down  that  stream.  After  a  drive  that  day, 
(including  some  diA^ersions  from  the  direct  route  to  examine  points 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

Avhlch  looked  well  at  a  distance,)  of  over  seventy-five  miles,  we  ar- 
rived at  Seward  Center,  in  the  fork  of  Plum  creek  and  the  Blue, 
and  opposite  the  mouth  of  Lincoln  creek.  All  of  the  proposed  site 
here  could  be  seen  at  a  glance.  It  lies  on  a  high  table  between  the 
streams  named,  is  level,  is  surrounded  by  fertile  valleys,  adjacent  to 
timber,  stone,  and  first-class  water  power,  and  is  remarkable  for 
healthiness  of  situation. 

"The  advantages,  indeed,  are  possessed  in  an  equal  degree  by  Mil- 
ford,  six  to  eight  miles  below  Seward,  and  by  Camden,  in  the  fork  of 
the  Blue  and  West  Blue,  excej^t  that  the  last-named  site  was  in  a  lower 
elevation.  We  remained  in  Milford  over  night,  and  on  the  27th 
turned  eastward,  and  arrived  at  Saline  City  in  the  evening. 

"On  the  29th  we  made  a  more  thorough  examination  of  'Yankee 
Hill'  and  Lancaster,  and  their  surroundings.  At  the  last-named 
point  the  favorable  impressions  received  at  first  sight,  on  the  19th, 
were  confirmed.  AVe  found  it  gently  undulating,  its  principal  eleva- 
tion being  near  the  center  of  the  proposed  new  site,  the  village  already 
established  being  in  the  midst  of  a  thrifty  and  considerable  agricul- 
tural population,  rich  timber  and  water-power  available  within  short 
distances,  the  center  of  the  great  saline  region  within  two  miles;  and, 
in  addition  to  all  other  claims,  the  especial  advantage  Avas  that  the 
location  was  at  the  center  of  a  circle  of  about  110  miles  in  diameter, 
along  or  near  the  circumference  of  which  are  the  Kansas  State  line, 
directly  south,  and  the  important  towns  of  Pawnee  City,  Nebraska 
City,  Plattsmouth,  Omaha,  Fremont,  and  Columbus. 

"The  State  lands  which  we  observed  in  our  tour  were  mainly  away 
from  considerable  bodies  of  timber  or  important  water  courses,  and 
did  not  possess,  to  all  appearances,  any  particular  advantages,  nor  was 
the  title  of  them  so  far  vested  in  the  State  at  that  time  (the  report  ot 
the  selection  of  lands  by  the  Governor,  under  the  acts  of  Congress  ad- 
mitting the  State  to  the  Union,  not  having  then  been  certified  or  ap- 
proved at  Washington)  as  to  Avarrant  us  in  making  a  selection  where 
there  was  a  possibility  that  the  title  might  fail,  or  in  waiting  until,  by 
confirmation  at  Washington,  the  title  had  been  secured. 

"Under  these  circumstances  we  entertained  the  proposition  of  the 
people  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  Lancaster,  offering  to  convey  to  the 
State  in  fee  simple  the  west  half  of  the  west  half  of  section  25,  the  east 
half  and  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  26,  which,  with  the  north- 


LOCATING    THE   CAPITAL.  127 

west  quarter  of  section  26,  (the  last-named  quarter  being  saline  land,) 
all  in  town  10,  range  6  east,  the  whole  embracing  800  acres,  and  upon 
which  it  was  proposed  to  erect  the  new  town.  In  addition,  the  Trust- 
ees of  the  Lancaster  Seminary  Association  proposed  to  convey  to  the 
State,  for  an  addition  to  the  site  named  in  the  foregoing  proposition, 
the  town  site  of  Lancaster,  reserving  certain  lots  therein,  which  had 
been  disposed  of  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the  purchasers  thereof,  and 
the  owners  of  said  lots  reserved  agreeing  to  a  resurvey  of  the  town 
site  as  an  addition  to  Lincoln,  and  the  acceptance  of  lots  according  to 
the  new  survey  in  lieu  of  those  acquired  from  the  Seminary  Company 
and  surrendered  by  them. 

"James  Sweet,  Esq.,  was  appointed  conveyancer  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, and  after  his  report  upon  the  sufficiency  of  the  titles  proposed 
to  be  made  to  the  State,  (which  report  will  be  found  in  the  appendix 
hereto,  marked  'A,')  and  a  careful  consideration  of  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  condition  of  the  State  lands,  the  advantages  of  the  sit- 
uation, its  central  position,  and  the  value  of  its  surroundings  over  a 
district  of  over  twelve  thousand  square  miles  of  rich  agricultural 
country,  it  was  determined  to  accept  the  proposition  made  by  the  own- 
ers of  the  land,  if  upon  a  ballot  the  Commissioners  should  docidr 
upon  a  location  at  this  point. 

"  In  the  afternoon  of  the  29th  of  July  we  assembled  in  the  house 
of  W.  T.  Donovan,  of  Lancaster,  and  after  a  comparison  of  notes 
and  the  discussion  of  advantages  of  the  many  points  examined,  pro- 
ceeded to  ballot  for  a  choice. 

"On  the  first  ballot  Lancaster  received  two  votes  and  Ashland  one. 
On  the  second  vote  Lancaster  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
Commissioners. 

"  The  Governor  then  announced  the  result  to  the  people,  many  of 
whom  were  outside  awaiting  the  decision. 

"Having  performed  the  business  of  the  location  of  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment, the  Commissioners  returned  to  Omaha,  leaving  ^Mr.  Harvey 
at  Lancaster  to  do  the  surveying  necessary  to  locate  the  depressions 
and  elevations  on  the  town  site,  preliminary  to  his  furnishing  a  design 
for  laying  off  the  blocks,  streets,  and  reservations,  and  making  a  plat 
thereof.  He  completed  that  labor  on  the  12th  of  August,  when  he 
notified  the  Commissioners,  and  they  again  assembled  at  Lancaster, 
on  the  13th  dav  of  Auoust.    On  the  14th  the  CommissioJiers  formally 


128  HISTOliY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

announced  the  founding  of  the  town  of  Lincoln  as  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  Nebraska,  in  the  following  proclamation : 

"To  Whom  it  May  Concern:  Know  ye,  that  on  this  the  14th  day  of  August, 
A.  P.  18(57,  by  virtue  of  authority  in  us  vested,  and  in  accordance  with  an  act  to 
provide  for  tlie  location  of  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and 
for  the  erection  of  public  buildings  thereat,  approved  June  14,1867,  we,  the  under- 
signed Commissioners,  on  this  the  14th  day  of  August,  a.  n.  1867,  have  by  actual 
vi«w  selected  the  following  described  lands  belonging  to  the  State,  viz.: 

"S.  E.  i  of  section  23;  the  W.  A  of  the  N.W.  i,  N.W.  j  and  the  W.  i  of  the  S.W. 
4,  of  section  25,  the  W.  A  of  section  25,  of  township  No.  10  north,  of  range  No.  6 
east  of  the  6th  principal  meridian,  and  have  located  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska  upon  said  described  lands  as  a  town  to  be  known  as  Lincoln. 

'Further,  that  we  have,  upon  the  day  above  mentioned,  designated  within  said 
location  the  reservation  for  the  Capitol  Building,  State  University,  and  Agricult- 
i;ral  College,  parks,  and  other  reservations  contemplated  in  the  aforesaid  act,  which 
will  be  properly  designated  upon  a  plat  and  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State. 

"Done  at  Lincoln,  Lancaster  county,  Nebraska,  this  14th  day  of  August,  A.  I). 

1867. 

DAVID  BUTLER, 

THOMAS  P.  KENNARD, 

JOHN  GILLESPIE, 

Cojnmissioners. 

"On  the  following  day  Messrs.  A.  F.  Harvey  and  A.  B.  Smith,  en- 
gineers, with  a  corps  of  assistants,  who  were  sworn  to  perform  faith- 
ful service,  commenced  the  survey  of  the  town.  The  design  is 
calculated  for  the  making  of  a  beautiful  town.  The  streets  are  one 
hundred  and  one  hundred  and  twenty -five  feet  wide,  and  calculated  to 
be  improved  on  all  except  O  and  Ninth  streets,  and  the  other  business 
streets  around  the  Market  Square  and  Court  House  Square,  with  a 
street  park  outside  of  the  curb  line;  as  for  instance,  on  the  one  hundred 
foot  streets,  pavements  of  twelve  feet  wnde  and  park  or  double  row  of 
trees,  with  grass  })lot  between,  twelve  feet  Mide  outside  the  pavements; 
and  on  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  foot  streets  the  pavement  and 
park  to  be  each  fifteen  feet  wide.  This  will  leave  a  roadway  of  fifty- 
two  feet  on  the  streets  one  hundred  feet  wide,  and  sixty  feet  wide  on 
the  wide  streets,  while  on  the  business  streets  a  ninety  foot  roadway 
will  be  ample  room  for  all  demands  of  trade. 

"Reservations  of  nearly  twelve  acres  each  were  made  for  the  State 
House,  State  ITniversity,  and  city  Park,  these  being  at  about  equal 
distance  from  each  other. 

^'Reservations  of  one  block  each  for  a  Court  House  for  Lancaster 


LOCATING   THE    CAPITAL.  129 

county,  for  a  City  Hall  and  market  space,  for  a  State  Historical  Li- 
brary Association,  and  several  other  squares,  in  proper  location,  for 
Public  Schools." 

The  Commissioners  have  also  marked  upon  the  book  of  record  of 
lots,  reservations  of  three  lots  each  for  the  following  religious  denom- 
inations, viz : 

Lots  7,  8,  9,  block  65,  for  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

Lots  10,  11,  12,  in  block  67,  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  chui-ch. 

Lots  10,  11,  12,  in  block  87,  for  the  Baptist  church. 

Lots  10,  11,  12,  in  block  89,  for  the  Congregational  society. 

Lots  1,  2,  3,  in  block  91,  for  the  German  Methodist  Episcopal 
church. 

Lots  7,  8,  9,  in  block  97,  for  the  Lutheran  congregation. 

I^ots  10,  11,  12,  in  block  99,  for  the  Protestant  Methodist  church. 

Eots  16,  17,  18,  in  block  101,  for  the  Christian  church. 

Eots  10,  11,  12,  in  block  119,  for  the  Presbyterian  church. 

Lots  7,  8,  9,  in  block  121,  for  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church. 

These  reservations  were  made  with  the  understanding  with  the  par- 
ties makino:  the  selection  on  behalf  of  the  several  denominations,  that 
the  Legislature  would  require  of  them  a  condition  that  the  pr(jperty 
should  only  be  used  for  religious  purposes,  and  that  sometime  would 
be  fixed  within  which  suitable  houses  of  worship,  costing  some  rea- 
sonable minimum  amount,  should  be  erected. 

"The  Commissioners  have  also  reserved  lot  13,  in  block  101,  for 
the  use  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars;  lot  14,  in  block 
101,  for  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows;  and  lot  15,  in  block 
101,  for  the  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons.  We  respectfully 
ask  the  Legislature  to  confirm  our  action  in  respect  to  all  the  reser- 
vations. 

"The  surveying  of  the  town  was  done  in  the  most  careful  manner, 
and  with  the  utmost  patience,  and  we  believe  that  the  lines  are  so  well 
established  that  future  litigation  about  Mapping'  of  lots  will  be  practi- 
cally impossible.  In  every  third  street  running  north  and  south  and 
every  fourth  or  fifth  street  running  east  and  west,  there  were  set,  at 
the  center  of  intersection  with  every  other  street,  a  stone  monument, 
even  with  the  surface,  in  the  top  of  which  a  mark  was  fixed  at  the 
exact  point  of  crossing  the  lines.  The  work  occupied  Messrs.  Harvey 
and  Smith,  and  a  double  party  of  assistants,  constantly,  until  the  10th 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLX. 

day  of  September,  when  having  staked  oif  every  lot  in  town,  except  in 
a  few  blocks  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  northwest  quarter  upon  the 
'Saline  land,'  the  work  was  completed. 

"  In  anticipation  of  the  completion  of  the  survey,  and  to  insure 
parties  purchasing  lots  in  time  to  build  upon  them  for  winter,  and  an 
early  provision  of  the  means  of  commencing  work  upon  the  State 
House,  the  Commissioners,  upon  the  17th  day  of  August,  issued  their 
advertisement  for  the  first  sale  of  lots,  to  be  held  on  the  17th  day  of 
September. 

"This  advertisement  was  authorized  to  be  printed  in  such  newspa- 
per as  could  give  it  the  widest  circulation.  Upon  the  day  of  sale  the 
weather,  which  had  been  excessively  disagreeable  for  nearly  a  Aveek, 
culminated  in  a  cold,  drizzly  rain,  in  consequence  of  which  not  more 
than  one  hundred  persons  were  present,  and  but  few  of  these  the  bid- 
ders we  had  expected.  The  aspect  of  affairs  was  disheartening.  Per- 
sons who  had  loudly  boasted  of  their  great  expectations  in  buying  lots 
and  building  houses ;  others  who  had  been  lavish  in  prophecies  of  the 
unparalleled  success  of  the  enterprise;  others  who  had  been  free  with 
advice  to  us  in  regard  to  appraisements  and  sales  —  these,  and  still 
others,  who  were  certainly  expected  to  be  on  the  ground  and  foremost 
in  purchasing,  had  given  us  the  cold  shoulder,  and  were  not  present 
or  within  hearing.  Indeed,  your  Commissioners  almost  felt  that  fail- 
ure was  after  all  to  be  the  result. 

"However,  the  first  lot  was  put  up,  and  after  some  delay  in  getting^ 
a  bidder,  it  was  sold  to  J.  G.  Miller,  Esq.,  for  an  advance  of  twenty- 
five  cents  on  the  appraisement  of  S40. 

"This  small  beginning  was  an  index  to  the  proceedings  for  the  day,^ 
and  when  the  evening  closed,  the  sales  footing  up  to  about  one-tenth 
of  our  expectations,  our  spirits  or  our  hopes  were  in  nowise  improved. 

"  The  second  and  third  days  gave  a  better  result,  and  on  the  fourth 
and  fifth,  sunshine  having  come  again,  bringing  more  persons  to  the 
sales,  and  getting  every  one  to  feeling  well,  the  bidding  became  en- 
couraging, and  the  summing  up  of  the  five  days'  offering  was  nearly 
if  not  quite  satisfactory. 

"The  sales  here  at  this  time  amounted  to  about  834,000. 

"The  offering  of  lots  was  continued  at  Nebraska  City  from  the 
23d  to  the  27th  of  September,  inclusive,  and  in  (^maha  on  the  30th  of 
September  to  the  4th  of  October. 


LOCATING    THE    CAPITAL.  131 

"The  sales  at  Nebraska  City  and  Omaha  amounted  to  about  nine- 
teen thousand  dollars,  and  aggregated,  with  the  amount  at  Lincoln, 
about  S53,000,  a  sum  sufficiently  large  to  dispel  all  despondency  and 
Ayarraut  reue\yed  exertions. 

"We  again  met  an  obstacle  which  for  a  little  while  promised  a  good 
deal  of  trouble. 

"Under  the  'Capitol  Bill/'  your  Commissioners  were  required  to 
pay  oyer  the  amount  receiyed  from  the  sales  of  lots  to  the  State  Treas- 
urer, and  pay  all  expenditures  by  warrants  upon  the  State  Treasurer 
building  fund  held  by  that  officer.  We  haye,  in  this  regard,  to  plead 
guilty  to  a  technical  yiolation  of  law.  Except  the  sum  of  8148,  none 
of  the  money  receiyed  by  us  has  eyer  been  paid  oyer. 

"As  soon  as  the  town  was  suryeyed,  there  began  rumors  that  the 
enemies  of  the  enterprise  were  determined  to  defeat  it  if  possible,  and 
that  nothing  which  could  accomplish  that  end  would  be  left  undone. 

"AVe  were  assured  in  the  most  reliable  quarters  that  one  of  these 
defeating  means  would  be  the  enjoiniug  of  the  Treasurer  against  the 
payment  of  money  upon  warrants  upon  the  building  fund,  an  effort 
which,  eyen  if  the  injunction  had  not  in  the  end  been  sustained,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  courts  would  haye  preyeuted  actiye  operations 
until  it  should  be  too  late  to  secure  the  erection  of  the  State  House. 

"'  lu  consequence  of  this  rumor,  well  founded  as  it  seemed  to  be, 
hundreds  of  persons  who  would  otherwise  haye  inyested  largely  in 
Lincoln  lots,  declined  so  doing ;  others  who  had  purchased  or  bid  off" 
lots,  hesitated  about  paying  the  money  and  taking  their  certificates; 
while  others  became  so  fearful  of  a  bad  result,  that  they  eyen  applied 
to  the  Commissioners  for  a  restoration  of  the  amounts  paid  and  a  can- 
cellation of  their  certificates. 

"At  this  juncture  some  friends  of  the  enterprise,  who  were  sureties 
upon  our  official  bond,  called  upon  the  others,  and  prepared  and  fur- 
nished us  with  the  following  protest : 

"[copy.] 

"  Nebraska  City,  November  23,  IttiT. 
"To  the  Honorable  David  Butler,  Thomas  P.  Kennard,  and  John  Gillespie,  Commis- 
sioners: 
•'Gextlemex — The  nndersigned  having  become  sureties  on  your  official  bonds 
for  the  faithful  performance  of  your  duties  as  Commissioners,  respectfully  beg  leave 
to  formally  protest  against  the  deposit  of  any  of  the  funds  received  by  you  from  the 
sale  of  State  property  with  the  State  Treasurer,  for  the  following  reasons: 


132  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

"  1st.  Because  it  Las  been  repeatedly  intimated  by  the  enemies  of  the  present 
capital  location,  that  all  moneys  so  deposited  will  be  attached  and  held,  so  as  to 
defeat  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  by  preventing  the  erec- 
tion of  the  captol  buildings  till  after  the  sitting  of  the  next  Legislature. 

"2d.  Because  we. having  in  good  faith  become  sureties,  not  as  a  personal  favor  to 
the  Commissioners,  but  to  secure  the  success  of  the  proposed  location  and  early 
completion  of  the  capitol  buildings,  are  unwilling  that  the  enterprise  should  either 
be  defeated  or  delayed  by  useless  litigation.  We  therefore,  respectfully  but  ear- 
nestly request  the  Commissioners  to  withhold  the  funds  which  may  now  be  in 
their  hands,  as  well  as  those  which  may  yet  be  received,  and  deposit  them  with 
those  bankers  who  have  made  themselves  sureties,  and  who  may  furnish  the  Com- 
missioners satisfactory  security  for  the  prompt  payment  of  the  money  deposited 
with  them.  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

•D.  J.  McCank.  Thomas  B.  Stevenson. 

"Frederick  Renner.  D.  Whitenger. 

"George  Mohrenstecher.  S.  McConiga. 

"Samuel  B.  Sibley.  Kobert  Hawk. 

"H.  Kennedy.  James  Sweet." 

"John  Hamlin. 

"Under  the  cireuiiistaiiees  which  surro  unci  eel  us,  and  being  unwill- 
ing to  jeopardize  the  money  held  by  us  as  the  representatives  of  the 
State  in  trust  for  the  persons  who  had  advanced  it  unon  the  risk  of 
the  success  of  the  town  of  Lincohi,  we  felt  that  we  could  not  do  other- 
wise than  accede  to  the  demand  and  protest  of  our  sureties,  and  having 
made  satisfactory  arrangements  for  the  deposit  and  w'ithdrawal  of  the 
funds  with  private  bankers,  we  did  so,  and  liave  assumed  all  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  enterprise. 

"On  June  17,  1868,  we  held  a  sale  of  lots  at  Lincoln,  and  realized 
about  ^9,000. 

"On  the  17tli  of  September  we  again  sold  at  Lincoln,  and  received 
about  113,580. 

"At  the  sale  in  September,  18G7,  and  June,  1868,  we  had  offered 
lots  only  in  the  alternate  or  even  numbered  blocks,  with  those  in  four 
odd  numbered  blocks  to  make  up  for  half  of  the  reserved  blocks,  all  of 
which,  excejit  the  court  house  scjuare,  fell  upon  odd  numbers.  At  the 
last  sale,  in  September,  1868,  we  offered  the  lots  in  the  odd  numbered 
blocks  on  the  old  town  site  of  Lancaster.  The  presumption  of  the 
authority  to  make  this  sale  was  upon  the  consideration  of  our  oc- 
cupancy of  the  ground.  We  accepted  it  from  the  proprietors  as  so 
much  over  the  toAvn  of  Lincoln  proper,  and  excess  beyond  the  sec- 
tion and  a  quarter  whicli  wc  had  located  as  the  capital,  as  an  addition 


LOCATING   THE    CAPITAL.  133- 

to  the  town,  for  the  purpose  of  h.aving  no  rival  in  the  business  of 
selling  town  lots  upon  ground  adjacent  to  the  capitol,  and  where  hav- 
ing a  village  already  established,  the  proprietors  could  easily  have  de- 
rived large  profits,  which  otherwise  would  have  been  invested  with 
the  State.-  Besides,  the  building  of  the  town  had  so  far  been  accom- 
plished in  the  direction  of  and  upon  that  quarter  that  the  appreciated 
value  of  property  in  second  hands  made  it  so  probable  that  we  could 
realize  more  money  from  a  few  lots  there  than  from  many  upon  the 
south  side  of  the  townsite  proper;  and  standing  in  need  of  much 
more  money  than  we  had  reason  to  believe  these  last-named  lots 
would  bring,  we  deemed  it  advisable  to  offer  all  that  were  then  un- 
sold. 

"The  lots  were  appraised  prior  to  the  first  sale,  according  to  the 
law,  due  consideration  being  had  to  their  relative  situation  regarding 
the  public  reservation,  and  the  probable  business  center,  and  their 
particular  condition. 

"This  appraisement  amounted  to  a  total  of. .568,000  00 

"The  appraisement  on  the  lots  sold  was 63,475  00. 

"The  advance  on  appraisement  at  all  the  sales  was 13,145  75. 

"Making  the  total  sales  at  Lincoln,  September,  1867 |34,342  25 

"At  Nebraska  City,  September,  1867 18,745  50 

"At  Omaha,  September,  1867 1,005  00 

"At  Lincoln,  June,  1868 8,970  00 

"At  Lincoln,  September,  1868 13,553  00 

"Total $76,715  75 

"Accompanying  this  report,  appendix  marked  'B'  will  contain  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  purchasers  of  lots,  of  the  lots  purchased,  and 
their  prices. 

"Appendix  'E'  gives  the  list  of  lots  unsold,  of  those  apprai.sed 
and  offered  at  the  public  sales. 

"On  the  10th  of  September  the  Commissioners  issued  their  notice 
to  architects,  inviting  for  a  period  of  thirty  days  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  a  State  House. 

"In  response  Messrs.  Taggart  &  W.  R.  Craig,  of  Nebraska  City, 
and  John  Morris,  of  Chicago,  submitted  the  drawings  and  specifica- 
tions of  designs. 

"Upon  the  lOtli  of  October,  after  a  careful  consideration  of  their 
merits  severally  we  decided  to  accept  that  presented  by  iMr.  Morris,, 


134  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

as  being  best  adapted  to  the  circiimstaiiees  of  construction  and  the 
wants  of  the  State. 

"On  the  same  day  Mr.  Morris,  having  been  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  construction,  issued  a  notice  to  builders,  inviting  proposals 
for  a  term  of  three  months,  for  the  erection  of  the  work. 

"At  the  same  time  Mr.  Morris  was  directed  to  commence  such  pre- 
liminary work,  as  excavation  for  foundations,  delivery  of  material  for 
foundation  walls,  and  other  arrangements  as  would  facilitate  the  prog- 
ress of  the  work  after  the  contract  was  let. 

"  On  the  10th  of  November  the  superintendent  caused  the  ground 
to  be  broken,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  Lancaster. 

"  The  removal  of  the  first  earth  was  awarded,  in  the  absence  of 
anv  state  officer,  to  Master  Frele  Morton  Donovan,  the  first  child 
born  in  and  the  youngest  child  of  the  oldest  settler  of  Lancaster 
county." 

"On  the  11th  of  January  the  bid  of  Mr.  Joseph  Ward,  proposing 
to  furnish  the  material  and  labor  and  erect  the  building,  for  the  sum 
of  849,000,  was  accepted,  and  from  that  time  forward  the  work 
steadily  progressed,  with  a  few  uncontrollable  delays,  to  the  comple- 
tion of  the  work  contemplated  in  the  contract. 

"  For  a  report  of  the  difficulties  attending  the  work,  and  an  esti- 
mate of  the  allowance  proper  to  be  made  to  the  contractor  for  changes 
in  material,  increased  amount  of  work,  additional  accommodation, 
and  fitting.s,  by  Mr.  ]Morris,  the  architect,  is  appended  hereto,  marked 

"  The  entire  expenditures  have  been  made  by  the  Commissioners 
as  in  the  following  classification,  for  a  detailed  statement  of  which  see 
Appendix  '  D.' " 

The  red  sandstone,  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  report,  and  out  of 
which  the  Commissioners  expected  to  build  the  capitol,  proved  to  be 
rotten  and  worthless,  and  the  blue  limestone  of  Beatrice  was  substi- 
tuted, at  a  necessary  additional  cost  of  several  thousand  dollars. 

As  a  suggestion  of  the  prices  received  for  lots  at  the  sales  in 
1867-8  and  1869,  a  few  are  given  to  represent  the  value  of  property 
at  that  time: 

Lot  3,  in  block  55,  the  block  bounded  by  X  and  O  and  Tenth  and 
Eleventh,  sold  for  .$64.  Lots  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  and  18,  in  the 
same  block,  sold  to  James  Sweet  for  $353,  or  an  average  of  S58.88 
each. 


LOCATING   THE   CAPITAL.  135 

Irot  7,  in  the  block  containing  the  Burr  Block,  sold  for  $80  to  J.  E. 
LaMaster.  N.  C.  Brock  bought  lot  12,  same  block,  for  SGI.  The 
Capital  National  Bank  corner  sold  to  Jacob  Blum  for  880.  These 
were  average  prices.  Few  lots  sold  at  less  than  .S40,  and  few  o\er 
$150. 

The  leading  buyers  were  Samuel  E.  Allen,  Jacob  J^lum,  S.  R. 
Brown,  Hawks  &  Bush,  V>\  A.  Brown,  N.  C.  Brock,  J.  H.  Bryant, 
David  Butler,  S.  W.  Burnham,  Isaac  Cahn,  M.  M.  Culver,  A.  J. 
Cropsey,  D.  R.  Dungan,  Jacob  Dawson,  Wm.  Findley,  L.  A.  Groff, 
€.  H.  Harvey,  U.  S.  Harding,  Bob  Hawke  &  Co.j  AY.  8.  Horn, 
Thos.  H.  Hyde,  C.  J.  Hull,  H.  S.  Jennings,  H.  W.  Kuhns,  Levi  B. 
Ivennard,  T.  P.  Kennard,  J.  E.  LaMaster,  Wm.  Morton,  J.  J.  Mur- 
phy, J.  ^y.  ]\Iillard,  Jason  G.  Miller,  J.  D.  McCann,  Pat.  O'Hawes, 
K.  D.  Presson,  A.  L.  Palmer,  Philetus  Peck,  George  Ross,  Amos 
Reid,  J.  M.  Riddill,  John  Roberts,  S.  A.  Strickland,  James  Sweet, 
John  M.  Taggart,  Geo.  P.  Tucker,  and  Henry  Witte.  "We  notice 
such  names  among  the  buyers  as  John  M.  Thayer,  Avho  bought  lot  1, 
in  block  13,  for  $115;  T.  W.  Tipton,  John  Taife,  and  W.  R.  Yaughan. 
Five  ladies  bought  lots,  namely,  Mrs.  D.  Babcock,  Miss  S,  H.  Chap- 
man, Mrs.  J.  A.  Harvey,  Miss  A.  Peck,  and  Miss  M.  Wilson.  The 
latter  bought  lot  5,  in  block  226,  for  $15.  The  ladies  all  looked  out 
for  bargains,  or  the  men  refused  to  bid  against  them.  James  Sweet 
Avas  by  all  odds  the  heaviest  buyer,  his  individual  purchases  amounting 
to  $4,074,  and  as  trustee,  to  $15,000. 


136  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN^ 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  City  of  Lincoln  —  The  Early  Beginning  — From  Pre-Historic 
Times  to  1867  —  The  Towns  of  Lancaster  and  Yankee  Hill — The 
County  Seat  Contest — The  Building  of  the  Lancaster  Seminary 
— Early  Buildings  and  Reminiscences, 

In  1860,  Government  Square,  Lincoln,  was  a  rounded  elevation. 
About  the  center  of  the  square  was  a  knoll  about  twelve  feet  higher 
than  the  present  surface  at  the  artesian  well.  Standing  in  summer  on 
this  graceful  tumulus,  as  lovely  a  scene  was  spread  out  before  the 
observer's  eyes  as  ever  was  beheld  in  prairie  landscape.  To  the  west 
his  hill  of  observation  sloped  evenly  away  to  the  valley  of  Salt  creek. 
In  the  valley  to  the  west  of  the  creek,  and  north  of  O  street,  there 
was  a  beautiful  grove  of  honey  locust  trees.  South  of  O  street  there 
waved  a  little  forest  of  stately  elms  and  cottonwood,  interspersed  with 
a  few  honey-locust  and  hackberry  trees.  Besides,  the  stream  in  that 
direction  was  fringed  with  plum  and  other  small  trees  and  brush. 
Back  from  the  trees  the  low  ground  between  the  hills  was  one  sea  of 
tall  grass  and  yellow  sunflowers.  To  the  northwest  could  be  traced 
the  valley  of  Oak  creek,  also  fringed  with  trees,  and  to  the  southwest 
the  valley  of  Haines's  creek,  radiant  with  flowers.  On  the  low  ground 
directly  westward  the  saline  crust  of  the  Salt  Basin  glistened  in  the  sun 
like  the  surface  of  a  lake,  and  far  to  the  west  the  valley  of  jMiddle 
creek  receded  in  a  vista  of  green  leaves,  waving  grass,  and  flowers. 
The  valley  of  Salt  creek  could  be  traced  for  miles  to  the  northeast,  and 
the  banks  of  the  Antelope  also  had  their  fringe  of  grass,  flowers,  and 
trees,  to  the  eastward.  When  the  observer  looked  to  the  southward  he 
saw  his  hill  decline  into  a  drain,  almost  deserving  the  name  of  a  small 
ravine,  in  the  vicinity  of  N  street.  This  ravine  originated  in  a  basin 
of  low  ground  in  the  locality  a  little  distance  to  the  northeast  from 
the  present  site  of  the  Burr  block,  and  its  course  was  southwesterly  to 
Twelfth  and  O  streets.  Here  it  bent  southwaixl  for  a  short  distance 
and  at  tiie  place  where  the  alley  south  of  Funke's  opera  house  now  is,, 


FROM   PRE- HISTORIC  TIMES.  137 

it  again  turned  westward.  Its  course  then  was  southwesterly  to  a  lino 
now  occupied  by  the  Latta  block,  on  Eleventli  street.  Here  it  was 
deepest  and  the  descent  into  it  pretty  abrupt  from  either  side.  It 
crossed  Tenth  street  at  N,  and  was  soon  lost  in  the  flat  surface  of  the 
bottom  land  to  the  westward.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  Capital  National 
Bank,  at  O  and  Eleventh,  there  was  a  depression,  where  water  stood  to 
a  considerable  depth  when  the  street  came  to  be  graded  across  N  street. 
More  than  one  old  settler  can  now  tell  how  he  or  some  other  man  had 
a  vehicle  swamped  in  the  mud  on  Eleventh  street  in  attempting  to  cross 
this  drain  in  early  days,  the  reputation  of  the  slough  in  the  vicinity 
of  Eleventh  street  being  particularly  notorious. 

Owing  to  this  ravine,  the  elevation  on  which  the  capitol  now  stands 
looked  higher,  and  the  incline  of  its  long,  sweeping,  northern  sloi)e 
more  sharp,  than  at  present.  In  all  directions  from  the  observer  the 
distance  faded  away  in  a  rim  of  hills,  with  gracefully  undulatimi-  sides. 
In  fact,  it  seemed  that  he  stood  on  a  conical  elevation  in  a  grand  natural 
amphitheater,  where  surrounding  heights  were  located  at  magnificent 
distances.  The  high  ground  on  which  the  observer  is  supposed  to 
stand,  was  covered  with  buffalo  grass,  as  were  all  the  high  prairies 
twenty-nine  years  ago.  Across  the  elevated  surface  sj^arse  lines  of 
blue  joint  marked  the  course  of  travel  by  ox  teams  from  1847  to 
1860.  The  cattle  of  the  west-bound  trains  had  eaten  the  seed  to  the 
eastward  and  spread  it  along  the  trails  in  their  journey  toward  the 
west.  Indian  ponies  and  buffaloes  probably  contributed  to  sow  the 
seed  also. 

A  few  buffaloes  could  at  times  be  seen,  about  this  date,  on  the  pres- 
ent city  plat.  The  common  deer  and  black-tailed  deer  were  fre- 
quently seen  on  the  site  of  the  coming  capital.  Also  the  white-tailed 
and  mule  deer  were  occasionally  observed.  Herds  of  pronghorn  an- 
telope were  often  seen  on  the  ground  where  Lincoln  stands,  in  I860, 
and  during  several  years  later.  Elk  had  formerly  been  abundant. 
Prairie  wolves,  or  coyotes,  were  numerous  within  the  present  city 
limits  in  1860  and  for  years  afterv/ard.  Pelicans,  wild  geese,  ducks, 
prairie  chickens,  and  quail,  were  seen  in  large  numbers.  ISIany  small 
animals  and  birds  made  this  region  their  home.  Perhaps  one  thou- 
sand species  and  varieties  of  plant  life  could  have  been  seen  within 
the  present  platted  limits  of  the  city,  twenty-nine  years  ago.  This 
seems  extravagant,  but  when  it  is  known  that  the  flora  of  Nebraska 
10 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

coinprise.s  nearly  2,500  species  and  varieties  of  plants,   it  will  not 
seem  improbable. 

With  the  landscape  more  beautiful  than  an  ideal  picture,  the  soil 
manifestly  of  unbounded  fertility,  and  the  land  SAvarming  with  ani- 
mal life,  it  can  not  be  wondered  that  the  early  pilgrim  who  stood 
on  the  mound  on  post-office  square  and  absorbed  the  prospect,  thought 
that  he  had  seen  no  spot  so  promising  as  this  on  which  to  found  a  city. 

The  land  on  which  Lincoln  now  stands  was  surveyed  in  1856  by 
the  Government.  The  salt  springs  in  the  Salt  Basin  were  then  dis- 
covered and  reported  by  the  Government  surveyor.  Fabulous  antici- 
pations at  once  filled  the  minds  of  adventurers  and  enterj)rising  men 
who  then  had  begun  to  congregate  along  the  JNlissouri  river.  In 
1856  the  Crescent  Company  was  organized  at  Plattsmouth,  and  Cap- 
tain W.  T.  Donovan,  who  commanded  the  steamer  "Emma,"  from 
Pittsburg  to  Plattsmouth,  was  selected  to  represent  the  company  at 
the  Salt  Basin.  The  captain  and  his  family  came  on  and  settled  on 
section  twenty-three,  on  the  west  bank  of  Salt  creek,  and  south  of  the 
mouth  of  Oak  creek.  The  Crescent  Company  proposed  to  find  out  the 
value  of  the  salt  water  flowage  as  a  commercial  investment.  During 
the  same  summer  William  Norman  and  Alexander  Robinson,  repre- 
senting a  company  similar  to  that  of  Donovan,  came  on  and  located 
for  a  time  near  the  big  Salt  Basin,  on  section  twenty-one.  They  soon 
became  satisfied  with  their  profits,  and  left  the  basin  permanently. 
Owing  to  the  threatening  aspect  of  the  Pawnee  Indians  during  the 
latter  part  of  1858,  Captain  Donovan  also  abandoned  the  schemes  of 
the  Crescent  Company,  and  removed  to  the  Stevens  creek  settlement, 
where  he  remained  until  1861,  when  he  returned  to  the  vicinity  of 
the  Salt  Basin  once  more  and  located  at  Yankee  Hill,  a  point  nearly 
identical  with  the  site  of  the  present  Insane  Hospital. 

In  the  autumn  of  1859  a  scheme  for  county  organization  was  set 
on  foot.  At  that  time  a  large  elm  tree,  with  spreading  branches,  stood 
not  iar  from  what  is  now  the  Burlington  Poad  round  house.  Under 
this  tree  the  settlers  met  to  take  ])reliminary  steps  for  the  erecti<m  of 
countv  machinery.  This  caucus  selected  A.  J.  AVallingford,  Joseph 
J.  Forest,  and  Caj)tain  W.  T.  Donovan,  as  a  committee  to  select  a  site 
for  a  county  seat  and  lay  out  a  town.  That  committee,  with  most  com- 
mendal)le  judgment,  selected  the  jiresent  site  of  Lincoln,  and  called  it 
"Lancaster,"  being  named  by  Captain  Donovan,  probably,  after  Lan- 


FEOM    PRE-HISTORIC   TIMES.  139 

caster  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  named  his  first  settlement  at  the 
Salt  Basin,  in  1857,  "Lancaster."  But  the  new  town  went  without 
inhabitants  for  several  years,  and  settlers  came  into  tlie  (•(.imty  very 
slowly  until  about  1864. 

On  July  2,  1861,  Captain  Donovan  brought  W.  W.  Cox,  now  of 
Seward  county,  to  the  Salt  Basin,  and  on  August  20th  Cox  and  Dar- 
win Peckham  began  to  boil  salt  at  the  Big  Basin,  in  section  21.  Thev 
immediatly  set  up  an  extensive  business  by  trading  salt  for  all  man- 
ner of  useful  commodities  in  the  line  of  provisions,  such  as  meat 
flour,  butter,  potatoes,  eggs,  fruit,  wood,  clothing,  etc.  Salt  was  very 
scarce  in  the  West,  and  during  the  war  very  high,  so  that  j)eople  came 
even  from  near  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  for  salt,  and  traded  flour  for  the 
same,  pound  for  pound.  Settlers  came  from  far  and  near  to  boil  salt 
for  themselves,  and  the  Salt  Basin  was  a  lively  place  during  the  later 
months  of  1861.  No  salt  could  be  made  in  the  Minter  time,  and  Mr. 
Cox  wintered  with  Captain  Donovan,  at  Yankee  Hill.  Durino-  the 
fall  of  1861  such  prominent  men  of  the  future  as  J.  Sterling  Morton, 
O.  P.  Mason,  and  Phineas  AV.  Hitchcock,  visited  and  inspected  the 
Salt  Basin.  JMr.  Morton  then  probably  contracted  some  ideas  that 
were  unfortunate  for  him  in  after  years.  The  Territorial  Governor, 
Alvin  Saunders,  who  had  been  elected  in  May,  1861,  also  visited 
the  basin  during  the  fall. 

During  the  winter  of  1861-2  the  coyotes  practically  had  the  eleva- 
tions where  the  city  now  stands  all  to  themselves. 

The  season  of  1862  passed  much  as  that  of  1861.  Cox  and  others 
made  salt  at  the  basin. 

John  S.  Gregory  arrived  during  this  year,  and  boiled  salt  by  the 
Basin  on  section  21.  Many  others  came  and  went,  and  the  salt  busi- 
ness was  very  prosperous.  During  the  final  week  of  May,  Milton 
Langdon  and  family  arrived,  and  settled  on  the  north  side  of  Oak 
creek,  not  far  west  of  its  junction  with  Salt  creek.  A  connty  con- 
vention was  held  at  the  basin  on  the  first  of  May,  and  it  was  attended 
by  about  every  old  settler  in  the  county.  An  election  was  held  in 
the  fall,  but  there  was  nothing  connected  Avith  it  of  particular  interest 
in  the  history  of  Lincoln. 

But  there  was  one  thiuo;  Avhich  did  affect  the  destin^'  of  Nebraska 
and  this  city  which  occurred  in  that  year,  and  that  was  the  final 
passage  by  both  Houses  of  Congress  of  the  Homestead  Act.     This 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

had  passed  the  Senate  in  February,  and  was  passed  by  the  Honse  in- 
Mav.  This  act  bronglit  settlers  to  Lancaster  county  with  some 
activity  during  18G3. 

During  the  winter  of  1862-3,  an  old  man  named  Van  Benthusen 
was  camped  at  the  Salt  Basin  boiling  some  salt  in  a  large  open  pan. 
An  Indian  hit  him  a  rap  over  the  knuckles  with  a  ramrod,  for  a  joke. 
The  old  man  did  not  see  the  joke  the  same  way,  and  flew  into  a  rage 
and  knocked  the  Indian  over  into  the  boiling  salt,  burning  him 
fatallv.  The  settlers  went  to  the  Indian  camp  in  alarm,  fearing  this 
act  had  incensed  the  aborigines,  but  they  were  found  making  sport 
of  the  scalded  Indian,  who  roared  with  pain  in  his  dying  agony. 
They  called  him  a  squaw,  and  pointed  their  fingers  at  him  in  scorn. 

On  August  20,  1862,  a  heavy  frost  killed  the  corn  on  low  ground 
in  Nebraska  generally. 

During  the  winter  of  1862-3  a  son  was  born  to  the  family  of 
Joseph  Chambers,  then  camped  at  the  Salt  Basin.  The  child  lived 
but  a  short  time,  but  was,  probably,  the  first  child  born  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  city.  On  March  3,  1863,  Elmer  E.  Cox,  now 
of  Seward,  was  born  at  the  basin. 

The  summer  of  1863  found  W.  W.  Cox  and  family  still  at  the 
basin.  During  the  spring  of  1863  John  S.  Gregory  built  a  frame 
house  where  West  Lincoln  now  is,  and  made  other  improvements, 
and  the  same  season  he  was  made  the  first  postmaster  of  this  locality. 
The  office  was  named  "  Gregory's  Basin,"  but  did  not  continue  very 
long.  Mr.  Gregory  received  a  salary  of  S3  per  annum.  During 
the  summer  of  1863  Mr.  Gregory  erected  salt-making  apparatus  at 
the  basin  having  a  capacity  of  about  two  tons  per  day,  for  which  he 
found  a  ready  sale  to  pioneers  and  travelers  in  all  directions,  except, 
perhaps,  to  the  westward.  Few  white  men  had  then  settled  west  of 
Salt  creek.  William  Imlay  also  conducted  a  salt-manufacturing 
business  in  1862-3,  at  the  small  basin  near  where  the  stock-yards  are 
now  located.  Milton  Langdon  and  others  were  engaged  in  making 
salt  during  1862  to  1864. 

.John  S.  Gregory  was  elected  to  the  Territorial  I^iCgislatu re  for  Lan- 
caster county  on  October  13,  1863,  and  l)ecame  a  prominent  figure  in 
the  county  and  city  thenceforward  for  many  years.  Fifty-five  votes 
were  cast  at  this  election.  Mr.  (iregory  was  probably  the  first  per- 
manent settler  within  the  present  city  limits. 


FROM    PEE-HISTORIC   TIMES.  141 

On  the  morning  of  July  4,  1863,  Mrs.  W.  W.  Cox  proposed  that 
the  family  celebrate  Independence  Day.  AVild  gooseberries  were  very 
plentiful  along  Salt  creek,  and  Mr.  Cox  went  out  to  pick  a  quantity 
to  be  used  in  the  festivities.  When  he  had  filled  his  pail  he  heard 
some  hallooing,  and  stepping  out  of  the  bushes  to  see  what  the  dis- 
turbance was  about,  he  saw  a  small  group  of  men  near  by,  and  on 
closer  inspection  he  found  that  it  was  the  party  of  Elder  J.  M. 
Young,  Rev.  Peter  Schamp,  Dr.  J.  McKesson,  E.  AV.  AVarnes,  Luke 
Lavender,  and  Jacob  Dawson.  They  were  hunting  for  a  good  place 
in  whicJi  to  plant  a  colony.  They. at  once  joined  in  the  celebration 
project.  The  neighbors  were  called  in,  dinner  was  served,  the  elder 
made  a  speech,  and  a  small  flag  they  had  with  them  was  raised ;  and 
this  first  patriotic  event  of  its  kind  on  the  soil  of  the  present  cap- 
ital, they  do  say,  was  a  very  soul-stirring  occasion.  Perhaps  the  flag 
then  floated  for  the  first  time  on  the  present  site  of  Lincoln.  The 
■elder  was  looking  for  a  place  to  locate  a  colony  and  establish  a  Meth- 
odist mission,  and  like  most  of  the  pioneer  Methodist  preachers,  he  was 
a  very  good  judge  of  business  possibilities  as  well  as  of  yellow-legged 
chickens.  After  a  careful  inspection  of  all  the  surrounding  region,  he 
came  back  to  the  Salt  Basin  about  July  10,  1863,  and  decided  that  the 
present  site  of  Ijincoln  was  the  most  desirable  for  his  purpose  of  any 
spot  he  had  seen.  He  dedicated  a  portion  of  section  twenty  three  to 
colonial  purposes,  and  christened  it  "Lancaster."  But  no  attempt 
was  made  to  settle  the  town  until  1864,  when  the  village  life  of  Lan- 
caster really  began. 

The  winter  of  1863-4  was  one  of  intense  cold,  and  the  pioneers  of  the 
valley  of  Salt  creek  were  threatened  with  starvation  as  well  as  with  the 
rigors  of  the  winter.  But  when  spring  came,  settlers  began  to  come 
in  with  renewed  energy,  and  homesteading  began  in  earnest,  for  it 
then  became  probable  that  the  Union  would  be  saved.  People  began 
to  think  they  would  risk  this  region,  whose  soil  had  so  long  been 
viewed  with  suspicion,  owing  to  its  radical  contrast  in  ajipearance  with 
that  of  States  further  east,  and  the  libels  long  taught  by  ill-informed 
geographers.  Jacob  Dawson  and  John  Giles  took  homesteads  next 
to  Young's  new  site  of  Lancaster  in  1863.  Captain  W.  T.  Donovan 
had  already  taken  a  homestead  —  the  first  in  the  county  — on  January 
2d,  east  of  the  Asylum.  In  1864  Elder  J.  M.  Young  and  his  sons, 
Dr.  J.  McKesson,  Luke  Lavender,  E.  AV.  AVarnes,  and  J.  M.  Riddle, 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

made  a  permanent  settlement  on  the  town  site  of  Laneastcr.  The 
southeast  quarter  and  the  east  half  of  the  southwest  <|uarter,  of  seetion 
twenty-three,  were  platted  by  Jaeob  Dawson,  and  the  plat  is  dated 
August  6,  1864.  The  streets  were  named  North,  Nebraska,  Saline, 
AVashingtou,  ]Main,  Lincoln,  College,  High,  and  Locust,  from  the 
north  to  the  south  side  of  the  plat.  From  west  to  east  they  were  num- 
bered from  one  to  twelve.  The  plat  contained  sixty-four  blocks,  of 
eight  lots  each.  The  streets  were  to  be  sixty -six  feet  wide;  the  alleys 
were  to  run  east  and  west,  and  were  twenty  feet  wide.  Tiic  plat  had 
a  "Court-house"  and  a  "Seminary"  square.  Three  years  later,  when 
the  capital  commissioners  replatted  the  town  on  a  much  broader  scale, 
the  original  jilat  was  practically  discarded.  j\Iuch  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  early  part  of  LSG4  was  lost  by  the  scare  caused  by  the  Indian 
outbreak  of  that  year,  and  most  of  the  settlers  left  in  September.  Cap- 
tain Donovan,  John  S.  Gregory,  and  E.  AV.  Warnes,  stuck  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  Lancaster  plat.  The  Indians  committed  several  butch- 
eries west  of  the  Big  Blue,  but  did  not  molest  the  Salt  creek  settle- 
ment. Still,  those  who  remained  were  in  great  fear  at  times  lest  they 
might  be  attacked. 

The  season  of  1865  opened  with  but  a  few  more  settlers  than  that 
of  18G4,  on  account  of  the  Indian  scare  of  1804.  Most  of  those  who 
fled  the  fall  before,  returned  in  the  spring  of  18(3o,  and  others  came 
and  took  homesteads. 

Lancaster  county  had  but  one  county-seat  tight,  which,  owing  to  the 
few  persons  engaged,  did  not  develoj)  the  exciting  or  sanguinary  as- 
pects that  often  grow  out  of  such  contests.  AVheu  John  Cadman  and 
John  S.  Gregory  were  in  the  Territorial  Legislature  in  the  winter  of 
1804,  Cadman  was  in  a  scheme  to  partition  Clay  county  between  Gage 
and  Lancaster.  Gregory  at  first  opposed  this  hotly,  but  he  finally 
came  around  and  supported  the  scheme.  The  agreement  to  dismem- 
ber Clay  comity  was  easy,  comparatively.  But  when  it  came  to  the 
details  of  how  it  should  be  done,  the  problem  was  too  nuich  foi'  Cad- 
man and  (ircii'orv.  It  was  an  original  case,  this  takinir  the  life  of  a 
municipal  government,  and  it  required  skill  in  law  and  the  principles 
of  civil  and  constitutional  government  mA  thought  of  when  the  scheme 
was  Jiatched.  At  this  jwint  in  the  dilemma  Cadman  and  Gregory  called 
in  T.  M.  Marquett,  representing  this  county  in  the  Council,  and  he 
was  made  a  sort  of  referee,  after  much  higgling,  for  the  adjustment  of 


FROM    PRE-HISTORIC   TIMES.  143 

the  whole  matter  of  division  of  tciTitoiy,  f'luuls,  uiul  cxtiiiiiiiislinient 
of  the  life  of  Clay  eounty.  His  work  was  so  well  clone  that  it  has 
never  been  questioned  since. 

This  elimination  of  Clay  eounty  from  the  map  was  intended  to  iix 
the  county  seat  of  Gage  county  at  Beatrice,  and  also  that  of  Lancaster 
near  where  it  now  is.  With  Clay  county  in  existence,  tiie  first  would 
have  had  to  go  further  south  and  the  second  further  north.  Cadman 
wanted  the  capital  of  Lancaster  county  at  a  point  near  tlie  present  In- 
sane Asylum,  which  he  at  once  staked  otF  as  a  town  site  under  the 
name  of  "  Yankee  Hill,"  Elder  J.  M.  Young  caused  his  site  to  he 
platted  the  same  summer  of  1864,  and  then  thse  two  generals  set  out 
to  capture  the  eounty  seat  of  Lancaster  county.  Gregory  had  cnnsed 
the  Legislature  to  appropriate  i?")00  for  a  bridge  over  Salt  creek  "to 
be  located  in  Lancaster  county,"  hoping  to  get  the  bridge  opposite 
Lancaster.  But  Cadman  was  not  asleep,  and  when  tiie  commissioners 
came  to  view  the  ground  he  ])lead  so  m'cII  for  a  bridge  at  Yankee 
Hill  that  the  money  was  equally  divided  between  the  Yankee  Hill 
and  Lancaster  bridge  sites.  With  the  addition  of  subscriptions,  both 
sites  secured  a  bridge  over  Salt  creek,  and  were  so  far  even  in  the 
fight.  Lancaster  had  the  Salt  Basin  and  Yankee  Hill  had  the  freight 
road  from  the  jMissouri,  making  them  about  a  tie.  Yankee  Hill  se- 
cured a  blacksmith  shop  and  a  small  store,  and  was  a  little  ahead  on 
the  count.  But  Elder  Y''oung  was  a  shrewd  and  energetic  leader, 
anil  Cadman  Avas  unfortunate  in  at  least  one  particular.  'Die  settlers 
south  on  Salt  crock  had  generally  located  near  what  they  supposed 
would  be  the  county  scat  of  Clay  county,  and  the  prospective  capital 
they  had  named  Olathe.  When  Cadman  joined  hands  MJth  H.  \V. 
Parker,  of  Beatrice,  and  slaughtered  Clay  county  in  cold  blood,  he  also 
annihilated  the  prospects  of  Olathe.  The  visions  of  the  Olatheans  sud- 
denly went  glimmering.  Their  anger  against  Cadman  rose  to  a  high 
pitch,  and  they  "laid  for  him."  And  it  is  not  recorded  that  Elder 
Y^oung  tried  to  smooth  down  the  rnfHed  temper  of  the  people  of  Olathe. 
So,  when  the  people  came  to  vote  on  the  location  of  the  county  seat  in 
the  summer  of  1864,  Lancaster  was  victorious  by  odds.  Olathe  got 
even  with  Cadman.  But  Cadman  did  not  long  sulk  in  his  tent.  He 
joined  with  the  ]ieople  of  Lancaster  to  make  it  a  successful  town,  and 
was  soon  afterward  a  hotel  keeper  in  Lancaster,  and  the  justice  of  the 
peace  of  the  place.  He  was  elected  to  the  next  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture, and  was  a  member  of  the  first  State  Senate.    He  was  also  probate 


144  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

judge,  sheriff,  and  treasurer  of  Lancaster  county.  At  present  he  is  re- 
siding in  California,  but  be  paid  Lincoln  a  visit  during  July  of  the 
present  year.  He  has  a  son  residing  in  the  city  now,  and  anotlier  in 
Omaha. 

Elder  J.  i\[.  Young  was  a  man  of  great  enterprise,  very  large  mind, 
and  possessed  of  a  warm  heart.  He  was  an  antagonist  whom  most 
men  could  well  atford  to  respect.  He  not  only  planted  his  colony  on 
the  sight  of  Lincoln,  but  was  the  inspiration  which  had  much  to  do 
with  inducing  the  commissioners  to  locate  the  State  capital  on  his  site 
rather  than  at  Seward,  or  one  of  the  other  competitive  points.  He 
came  to  Lancaster  county  to  found  a  female  seminary  when  this  region 
was  almost  literally  a  howling  wilderness.  Coyotes  did  the  howling. 
So  did  the  Pawnee  and  Otoe  Indians.  But  he  set  about  building  his 
seminary,  (in  1864,  probably,)  and  had  it  in  operation  in  1866.  It  was 
built  of  the  soft  red  sandstone  of  this  region,  and  was  about  30x50  ft. 
in  dimensions,  and  two  stories  high.  It  stood  on  the  rear  part  of  the 
lot  now  occupied  by  the  State  Journal  building,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  plat  of  Lancaster  was  totally  disregarded  by  the  surveyors  who  sur- 
veyed Lincoln,  in  1867.  It  then  became  the  school  house,  meeting 
house  and  public  rallying  point  generally,  until  burned  down  in  the 
spring  of  1867.  The  first  school  on  the  site  of  Lancaster  was  taught 
in  the  "  seminary  "  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Merrill,  in  1866,  in  the  latter  part  of 
that  season,  with  an  attendance  of  about  thirty.  School  was  continued 
in  the  "stone  house"  in  1866,  when  it  was  in  charge  of  j\Irs.  Mer- 
rill, whose  husband  had  a  homestead  on  the  Antelope.  After  it  was 
burned,  in  1867,  John  Cadman  opened  a  hotel  on  its  site,  late  in  1867, 
using  the  walls,  in  part,  for  his  hostelry.  This  was  the  second  hotel  in 
I^iincoln.  Cadman  afterward  sold  out  to  N.  S.  Atwood,  who  greatly  en- 
larged the  Cadman  House,  as  a  brick  structure,  and  after  running  it  for 
some  time,  it  burned  also.  Before  the  Cadman  House  was  built,  the 
Pioneer  House  was  erected  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Ninth  and  Q 
streets.  It  was  the  first  hotel  in  Lincoln,  and  was  well  managed  by 
L.  A.  Scoggin,  who  afterward  mysteriously  left,  and  has  not  since 
been  heard  from.  The  Pioneer  was  built  in  1867,  and  was  burned  a 
few  years  later. 

When  T.  M.  Marquett  ran  for  Congress  in  1866,  with  J.  Sterling 
Morton  as  ojiponcnt,  jNIorton  challenged  Marquett  to  a  campaign  joint 
debate.  The  campaign  was  opened  by  tiie  first  debate,  in  the  "sem- 
inary" just  referred  to,  in  August.     The  pioneers  came  from  fjir  and 


FROM   PRE-HISTORIC  TIMES.  145 

laear,  but  this  mass  meeting  numbered  only  about  fifty  persons.  The 
meeting  was  a  lively  one,  and  the  campaign  resulted  in  the  election  of 
Marquett.     So  much  for  the  history  of  the  Stone  Seminary. 

The  first  term  of  the  Territorial  court  in  Lancaster  county  was  held 
in  November,  1864,  at  the  house  of  Jacob  Dtiwson.  Dawson's  house 
was  a  double  log  cabin,  situated  on  the  ground  on  west  O  street  now 
occupied  by  the  St.  Charles  hotel,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  street.  The  officiating  judge  was  Elmer  S.  Dundy, 
now  United  States  District  Judge  for  this  district.  Mr.  Dawson 
acted  as  clerk,  and  Judge  Pottenger,  of  Plattsmouth,  was  appointed 
Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  Territory,  at  a  salary  of  $75.  T.  M. 
Marquett,  of  Plattsmouth,  was  present  as  an  attorney.  Milton  Lang- 
don  and  John  S.  Gregory  were  the  local  attorneys,  who  were  nearly 
always  arrayed  against  each  other  in  the  local  courts.  The  leading 
-case  of  the  term  was  that  of  Bird,  or  The  Territory,  against  Pember- 
ton.  The  latter  had  shot  his  revolver  into  Bird's  house,  and  thumped 
Bird  with  it  afterward,  owing  to  some  difficulty  Pemberton  had  had 
with  one  of  Bird's  daughters.  The  Birds  had  talked,  and  Pemberton 
*'did  up"  the  father  in  consequence.  After  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  a 
grand  jury  was  impaneled,  the  venires  for  both  grand  and  petit  ju- 
ries being  exhausted  in  getting  the  panel.  Then  it  took  about  three 
•days  to  find  a  petit  jury,  owing  to  the  lack  of  men.  The  eligible  male 
inhabitants  were  nearly  all  on  the  grand  jury.  There  were  no  pro- 
fessional jurymen  in  court  on  this  occasion.  The  trial  of  cases  was 
delayed  about  three  days  in  the  endeavor  to  find  petit  jurors. 

The  grand  jury  found  several  indictments.  Pemberton  was  in- 
dicted and  came  to  trial  on  a  charge  of  "  Malicious  assault  with  intent 
to  kill."  T.  M.  Marquett  defended  him  for  a  fee  of  ten  dollars.  He 
urged  upon  his  honor.  Judge  Dundy,  that  his  client  should  not  be  re- 
quired to  lie  in  jail,  (there  was  no  jail  until  1868,)  and  should  not  be 
required  to  give  bond,  even  if  he  could,  if  the  Territory  was  unable 
to  try  him.  It  was  not  his  client's  fault  that  a  jury  could  not  be 
found.  Citizens  should  not  be  made  responsible  for  the  failures  of 
the  Territory.  He  thereibre  moved  to  quash  the  indictment.  Judge 
Dundy  granted  the  motion,  and  Pemberton  was  discharged.  Pcni- 
berton  left,  to  avoid  further  trouble,  Marquett  assuring  him  that  if 
he  assaulted  Bird  again,  that  he  would  come  to  Lancaster  and  prose- 
cute him.     Another  indictment  was  quashed  in  the  same  way. 

This  term  adjourned  on  the  day  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected   for 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF   LINCOLN. 

a  second  term,  November  8,  1864.  There  was  a  foot  of  snow  on  the 
groiuul,  and  the  day  was  stormy.  In  returnins;  to  Phittsmouth,  the 
court  and  attorneys  were  obliged  to  shovel  through  drifts.  When 
within  eight  miles  of  Plattsmouth,  the  party  learned  of  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  all  five  of  them  then  and  there  gave  three  cheers. 
The  drive  to  Plattsmouth  was  made  in  a  single  day.  This  long  drive 
was  frequently  made  in  a  day.  Simeon  Benadom  made  the  drive  in 
a  dav  in  1868,  when  he  brought  his  wife  to  tiie  city.  Siie  was  one  of 
the  first  women  who  became  a  resident  of  Lincoln. 

There  was  one  term  of  court  in  Lancaster  in  1865,  and  probably  one 
court  in  1866.  The  famous  litigation  of  those  early  years  was  be- 
tween John  S.  Gregory  and  his  LTncle  Eaton,  of  Plattsmouth.  The 
war  continued  for  several  years,  and  was  red  hot.  On  one  occasion 
]\Ir.  Gregory  expressed  a  decided  (»pinion  that  Eaton  would  be  a  resi- 
dent of  Sheol  in  the  future.  Eaton  prom])tly  replied  that  he  should, 
in  such  a  case,  be  compelled  to  regret  his  misfortune,  owing  to  the  neces- 
sity he  should  be  under  of  keeping  such  company  as  Mr.  Gregory. 

The  next  term  of  court  in  this  county  was  held  under  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  State  of  Nebraska. 

On  June  21st,  1866,  an  election  was  held  to  ratify  the  State  consti- 
tution framed  by  the  Territorial  Ijcigslature  early  in  the  year.  The 
people  ratified  the  instrument  all  right,  aiid  the  I^egislature  elected 
under  that  constitution  met  July  4,  1866.  But  the  bill  for  the  ad- 
mission of  Nebraska  as  a  State,  which  passed  Congress  on  July  28th, 
was  vetoed  by  Andrew  Johnson.  This  compelled  the  people  to  wait 
until  1867  for  statehood.  Congress  passed  another  admission  bill  in 
January,  1867,  which  was  also  promptly  vetoed  by  President  John- 
son, on  the  grounds  that  the  Territory  did  not  contain  sufficient  j)opu- 
lation  to  warrant  it  in  claiming  statehood ;  that  the  admission  bill  was 
at  variance  to  some  degree  with  the  enabling  act,  and  that  the  ccmsti- 
tution  had  not  been  formed  in  the  prescribed  manner.  It  took  Con- 
gress just  two  days  to  pass  this  bill  over  Johnson's  veto:  February 
8  and  9,  1867.  The  Legislature  met  at  Omaha,  February  20th  and 
ratified  the  provisions  on  which  Nebraska  was  to  be  admitted :  that 
she  should  enter  into  an  obligation  to  deny  no  citizen  the  elective  fran- 
chise on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 
President  Johnson  proclaimed  Nebraska  a  State  on  ^Nlarch  1,  1867. 
The  Legislature  immediately  took  steps  t(»  remove  the  capital  from 
Omaha.     JIow  this  was  done  is  told  in  another  chapter. 


GROWTH    OF   THE    VILLAGE.  147 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Geowth  of  the  Village — The  Change  of  Name — The  Effect  of 
THE  Location  of  the  Capital  — Early  Business  Houses  and  Resi- 
dences— The  Days  of  '67  and  '68. 

In  1864  Hon.  John  Gillespie  returned  from  the  army,  in  company 
with  a  son  of  Elder  J.  M.  Young,  on  a  furlough.  When  the  steamer 
reached  Nebraska  City  Elder  Young  was  on  the  wharf  watching  for 
his  son,  whom  he  greeted  cordially.  He  then  gave  Mr.  Gillespie  a 
neighborly  reception,  and  the  latter  inquired  whether  the  Elder  was 
still  living  in  Nebraska  City.  Mr.  Young  replied  that  he  had  located 
at  Lancaster,  in  Lancaster  county.  Mr,  Gillespie  had  a  high  opinion 
of  Elder  Young's  ability  and  character,  and  expressed  surprise  that 
he  should  be  incarcerated  in  the  wilderness  on  Salt  creek,  and  asked 
what  he  expected  to  do  there. 

'HJh,  I  am  founding  a  colony  out  there,"  said  the  Elder,  "and  am 
building  a  female  seminary.  We  will  soon  have  the  county  seat,  and 
will  have  the  capital  there  someday." 

The  idea  of  founding  a  female  seminary  on  the  raw  prairie,  where 
there  was  scarcely  a  young  woman  to  attend  it,  and  of  getting  the 
Territorial  capital  out  in  the  same  nondescript  region,  struck  Mr. 
Gillespie  as  visionary,  if  not  actually  absurd.  But  no  fiction  is  so 
romantic  and  surprising  as  real  human  experience,  esijecially  in  a  new 
State,  where  almost  anything  within  reason  is  possible. 

Within  about  a  year  from  the  time  that  boat  touched  the  Nebraska 
City  wharf,  John  Gillespie  was  elected  Auditor  of  the  Territory  of 
Nebraska.  As  Auditor  he  acted  as  one  of  three  Commissioners,  three 
years  after  the  boat  landed,  to  locate  the  capital  of  the  State  of  Ne- 
braska on  Elder  Young's  colonial  grounds,  and  in  almost  precisely 
three  years  from  the  time  the  Elder  made  the  prophecy,  the  capital  of 
Nebraska  actually  was  in  existence  on  the  ground  he  had  picked  out 
for  the  site  of  "Lancaster"  in  1863.  His  "seminary"  was  not  very 
successful,  but  that  was  not  very  material,  for  in  about  five  years  from 
the  date  of  his  declaration  to  Mr.  Gillespie  that  he  proposed  to  found 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

a  seminary,  tlic  contract  for  the  erection  of  the  building  for  the  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska  was  let,  and  ~  Elder  Young  lived  to  see  all  his 
dreams  more  than  realized.  His  death  occurred  in  1884.  Lincoln 
then  was  a  city  of  about  20,000  people. 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  29,  1867,  the  Commissioners  finally  met, 
at  the  house  of  Captain  AV.  T.  Donovan,  to  ballot  on  the  location  of 
the  capital  of  Nebraska.  The  meeting  was  in  the  attic  of  the  house. 
Lancaster  had  two  votes  on  the  first  ballot  and  Ashland  one.  The 
one  vote  was  by  Mr.  Gillespie,  who  said  he  feared  that  Lancaster  was 
short  on  a  water  supply  for  a  city  of  large  population.  But  he  was 
also  influenced,  doubtless,  to  vote  for  Ashland  because  that  place  was 
the  favorite  for  a  capital  site  of  the  Plattsmouth  people,  while  Yankee 
Hill  was  the  chosen  site  of  the  Nebraska  City  schemers.  Platts- 
mouth was  opposed  to  almost  anything  that  Nebraska  City  favored. 
Mr.  Gillespie  was  really  in  favor  of  Lancaster,  and  on  the  second 
ballot  voted  for  it  and  made  the  choice  unanimous.  The  citizens  of 
the  handet  were  gathered  about  the  house  awaiting  the  result  in  hope- 
ful but  anxious  suspense.  Presently  Governor  David  Butler  and 
Commissioners  T.  P.  Kennard  and  John  Gillespie  came  out  of  the 
house,  and  the  Governor,  standing  on  the  east  side  to  avoid  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  formally  proclaimed  the  decision  of  the  Commission  in 
favor  of  Lancaster.  Of  course  the  few^  settlers  present  rejoiced  ex- 
ceedingly. 

On  that  historic  July  day  the  hamlet  of  Lancaster  did  not  contain 
more  than  six  or  seven  buildings,  "shacks,"  log-houses,  stone  build- 
ings, and  all.  The  Commissioners  then  stood  in  front  of  Captain 
Donovan's  house,  which  stood  about  sixty  feet  southwest  of  Opelt's 
Hotel,  or  near  the  southwest  corner  of  Ninth  and  Q  streets.  This 
Avas  a  small  stone  and  cottonwood  frame  house.  Jacob  Dawson's 
double  log  cabin  of  1864  still  stood  on  the  south  side  of  O  street,  be- 
tween Seventii  and  Eighth,  where  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  now  is.  In 
the  front  end  of  this  house  S.  B.  Pound  had  set  uj)  a  small  grocery 
store  in  1866,  and  it  was  still  in  existence  when  the  Capital  Commis- 
sioners came.  Dawson  also  had  the  postoffice  at  that  time,  and  took 
it  "up  town"  with  him  when  he  removed  two  blocks  east,  in  1867. 
Milton  Langdon  resided  in  a  little  log-house  near  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Eighth  and  (^  streets.  Dr.  and  Kev.  John  McKesson,  for  he 
represented  both  the  Methodist  ministry  and  the  medical  profession, 


GROWTH   OF   THE   VILLAGE.  140 

lived  on  his  claim  on  the  north  side;  his  house  was  being  erected  at 
what  is  now  W  and  Twelfth  streets.  The  cotton  wood  grove  now 
there  was  planted  by  McKesson,  the  trees  at  first  being  switches.  The 
doctor  added  McKesson's  Addition  to  Lincoln,  and  was  offered  $40,- 
000  for  it  in  the  early  seventies,  but  declined  to  take  it.  He  wanted 
more.  He  then  went  into  the  manufacture  of  a  harvester  he  invented, 
and  lost  all  his  money,  and  now  lives  a  poor  man  at  La  Cygne,  Kan- 
sas. S.  B.  Galey,  who  came  here  in  April,  1866,  had  a  small  stone 
building  on  P  street  near  Tenth,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  John 
Sheedy's  elegant  block.  Linderman  &  Hardenbergh,  who  next  to  S, 
B.  Pound  were  the  earliest  merchants  of  Lincoln,  had  opened  a  small 
stock  of  goods  at  a  point  that  would  now  be  in  Ninth  street,  near  P, 
possibly  partly  in  both  streets.  They  had  sold  their  shop  to  INIartin 
and  Jacob  Pflug,  early  in  1867,  who  conducted  it  in  the  firm  name  of 
Pflug  Bros.  They  kept  a  small  stock  of  groceries,  including  a  bar- 
rel of  whisky,  some  hardware,  and  a  few  dry  goods.  Robert  Mon- 
teith  and  his  son  John  had  a  little  shoe  shop  at  what  is  now  922  P 
street.  They  soon  after  built  the  little  frame  building  now  on  that 
lot  and  now  used  by  M.  Adler  for  a  pawn  shop.  This  is  one  of  the 
few  structures  remaining  of  that  date  in  the  city,  and  when  first  built 
passed  for  quite  a  building. 

Elder  J.  M.  Young  lived  in  what  is  now  O  and  Eighteenth  street. 
The  sandstone  house  now  on  that  corner  was  afterward  erected  by  the 
Elder.  Luke  Lavender's  log  homestead  residence  was  at  O  and  Four- 
teenth, his  eighty  acres  lying  to  the  south  and  east.  This  house  has 
been  considered  the  first  residence  erected  on  the  plat  of  Lincoln.  If 
this  is  true,  it  must  have  been  placed  there  before  the  fall  of  1864, 
for  it  is  positively  known  that  Jacob  Dawson's  double  log-cabin,  on 
the  south  side  of  O  street,  between  Seventh  and  P^ighth  streets,  was 
completed  before  the  close  of  October,  1864,  fi)r  Judge  Dundy  held  a 
term  of  court  in  that  house  during  the  first  few  days  of  Noveml)er, 
1864,  and  T.  M.  Marquett  was  in  attendance  as  an  attorney.  Dawson's 
and  Lavender's  houses  were,  doubtless,  built  in  the  summer  of  1864. 
Both  men  came  to  the  county  in  company  with  Elder  Young's  explor- 
ing party,  in  July,  1863.  William  Guy,  Philip  Humerick,  E.  ^I\ 
Hudson,  E.  Warnes,  and  John  Giles,  had  homesteads  near  the  plat  of 
Lancaster,  and  the  farms  they  then  were  opening  are  now  all  ]>art  ol' 
the  city  of  Lincoln.     The  walls  of  Elder  Young's  old  stone  seminary 


150  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

stood  Oil  the  rear  part  of  the  lots  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Ninth 
and  P  streets,  wliere  the  State  Journal  block  now  stands.  There  may 
have  been  thirty  inhabitants,  all  told,  on  the  present  site  of  Lincoln 
in  July,  1867.  Judging  by  the  vote  cast  in  the  following  fall  election, 
there  may  have  been  five  hundred  people  in  the  entire  county.  From 
thirty  souls  to  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  in  twenty-two  years,  is  a 
record  of  rapid  growth  equaled  by  few  cities  of  the  world ;  but  such 
has  been  the  progress  of  Lincoln  since  18(37. 

The  Commissioners  called  the  capital  "Lincoln,"  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  bill,  which  provided  for  the  relocation  of  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment of  the  State  of  Nebraska.  How  the  name  ''Lincoln"  came 
to  be  selected  is  told  in  the  chapter  on  the  removal  of  the  capital. 

When  it  became  known  that  the  Commissioners  had  selected  Lin- 
coln for  the  State  capital,  a  number  of  men  squatted  on  the  site,  ex- 
pecting to  bid  in  the  ground  they  were  on  at  the  fall  lot  sales.  But 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  doubt  about  the  outcome  of  this  capital  ven- 
ture. The  North  Platte  people  were  generally  unfriendly  to  the 
choice  of  the  Commissioners,  and  Omaha  was  disposed  to  prevent  the 
consummation  of  the  removal,  if  such  a  thing  Mere  possible.  The  lot 
sales  were  not  opened  until  September  17th,  and  the  lack  of  confidence 
Avas  so  great  that  the  sale,  on  the  first  day,  was  a  failure.  No  lots 
could  be  disposed  of.  And  the  year  of  1867  was  practically  closed 
before  the  sales  were  known  to  be  sufficiently  successful  to  assure  the 
funds  necessary  to  erect  a  capitol  building.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
courage  of  the  Commissioners  and  the  enterprise  of  the  Nebraska 
City  men,  who  were  friendly  to  this  as  a  site  for  a  new  capital,  it  is 
very  doubtful  if  this  removal  scheme  would  have  succeeded.  Nebraska 
City  considered  it  good  strategy  to  get  the  capital  out  of  Omaha, 
when  it  was  thought  that  the  latter  town  might  be  outstrij)ped,  and 
Nebraska  City  become  the  metropolis  of  the  INlissouri.  It  seems 
never  to  have  occurred  to  the  schemers,  who  were  trying  to  protect 
themselves  from  Omaha,  that  the  new  capital  would  spring  into  such 
importance  in  twenty-two  years  as  not  only  to  overshadow  Nebraska 
City,  but  even  to  rival  Omaha  herself.  As  Lincoln  has  passed  all 
other  towns  on  the  river,  she  may  yet  pass  Omaha.  This  is  much 
more  reasonal)le  than  a  prediction  of  her  present  importance  would 
have  seemed  in  1867. 

The  real  business  existence,  in   tact  the  real  existence  of  Lincoln, 


GROWTH    OF    THE    VILLAGE. 


151 


dates  from  1868.  The  lot  sales  had  fairly  succeeded.  Confidence 
then  had  a  substantial  foundation;  so  that  business  houses  and  inhab- 
itants came  quite  freely  during  1868,  and  Lincoln  became  a  town  of 
about  500  people  toward  the  close  of  the  year. 

Even  now  the  records  and  traditions  of  1868  are  beconiing-  dim  — 
especially  the  traditions.  It  has  taken  days  of  patient  inquiry  to  re- 
produce the  landmarks  of  that  year  even  witli  approximate  correct- 
ness. Old  settlers  differ  radically  about  various  points.  Certain 
buildings  are  located  by  some  at  one  place  and  others  feel  sure  they 
were  somewhere  else.  But  the  village  was  substantially  all  confined 
to  a  space  bounded  on  the  west  and  east  by  Eighth  and  Twelfth  streets, 
and  ou  the  north  and  south  by  11  and  N  streets. 

Jacob  Dawson  had  left  his  historic  double  log-cabin  on  the  present 


&t\eet's  block  — northa\e&t  corxek  of  o  axd  tenth 


site  of  the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  near  O  and  Eighth,  and  had  erected  a 
large  sc^uare  stone  and  log  house  back  some  distance  from  the  south- 
west corner  of  O  and  Tenth.  The  Sweet  Block,  on  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  O  and  Tenth,  was  finished  early  in  1868,  by  Darwin  Peckham, 
who  still  is  a  leading  mechanic  of  the  city,  and  one  of  very  few  who 
did  business  on  this  plat  in  1868.  This  building  was  just  half  its 
present  size.  Where  the  O  street  stairway  now  is  there  was  an  out- 
side stairway  for  entrance  to  the  upper  story.  The  building  was 
really  three  buildings  erected  together,  by  James  Sweet,  A.  C.  Ku- 
dolph,  and  Pflug  Bros,  Sweet  and  N.  C.  Brock  opened  the  first 
bank  in  the  city,  in  the  southwest  corner  room,  on  the  first  floor,  in 
June,  1868.  This  bank  continued  until  1871,  when  it  was  reorgan- 
ized  as   the  State   Bank  of  Nebraska,  by  Samuel  G.  Owen,  James 


p. 


152 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Sweet,  aud  Nelson  C.  Brock.  About  tlie  same  time  that  the  bank 
opened,  A.  C.  Eudolph  opened  a  grocery  store  in  the  next  room 
north,  and  Pflug  Bros,  a  stock  of  dry  goods  in  the  third  room  from 
the  corner.  The  upper  part  was  used  for  offices,  and  later  on,  part 
of  the  county  offices  were  there,  and  the  State  Treasury  Mas  practically 
at  the  bank  in  1869,  Mr.  Sweet  then  being  State  Treasurer.  Bain 
Bros,  opened  the  first  clothing  house  in  the  city  in  1868,  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Tenth  and  O  streets.  They  had  previously  had  a 
real  estate  office  fronting  Tenth  street,  to  the  south  of  their  clothing 
house.  D.  B.  Cropsey  had  a  real  estate  office  on  the  southwest  corner 
of  O  and  Tenth,  where  the  State  National  Bank  now  is,  his  father,  A. 
J.  Cropsey,  being  with  him.    During  that  year  Bohanan  Bros,  opened 


SOUTHEAST  CORNER  O  AND  TENTH. 

their  meat  market  where  it  has  been  ever  since,  next  to  Cropsey's 
office,  to  the  west,  and  where  they  have  since  done  an  enormous  busi- 
ness. Squire  Blazier  also  opened  a  meat  market  about  where  the 
postoffice  now  stands,  postoffice  block  then  being  known  as  "  Market 
Square."  The  square  was  used  in  those  days  for  a  camping  ground 
for  immigrants  and  land  seekers,  and  was  generally  thronged  with 
machinery,  covered  wagons,  horses,  cattle,  and  men.  Here  the  early 
land  agents  found  many  of  their  customers.  On  south  Tenth  street, 
about  where  the  Lancaster  County  J^ank  now  stands,  David  May 
opened  a  small  stock  of  clothing  during  the  year.  A  little  south  of 
the  alley  R.  R.  Tingley  opened  a  little  drug  shop ;  and  a  short  dis- 
tance south  of  this  C.  F.  Damrow  set  up  the  first  tailoring  establish- 


GROWTH   OF  THE   VILLAGE. 


153 


ment  in  the  capital.  On  the  north  side  of  tliis^  Uock,  about  the 
center,  facing  "Market  Square,"  was  Moll's  grocery.  S.  B.  Pound 
had  removed  his  stock  of  groceries  to  what  is  now  015  O  street, 
Avhere  he  united  with  Max  Rich,  of  Rich  &  Oppenheimcr,  of  Ne- 
braska City,  in  the  grocery  business  during  a  few  months  of  1807 
and  1868.  The  next  year  he  sold  his  interest  to  Rich  &  Oppen- 
heimcr, who  carried  a  general  stock  there  for  a  number  of  years. 

Judge  Pound,  as  a  merchant,  was  noted  for  his  close  application  to 
his  law  studies.  He  really  made  his  grocery  business  a  sort  of  sub- 
sidiary arrangement  to  fill  up  the  time  while  he  prepared  for  the  bar. 


tk  'Vi  .^ 


-^^M-^'   ,?^ 


SOUTHWEST  COKNER  O   AND   NINTH. 


He  is  a  good  example  of  success  won  by  tireless  ajjplication  and  iu- 
dustry. 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  this  block  a  colored  man  named  ISIoore 
had  a  barber  shop,  and  near  the  southwest  corner  was  the  residence 
of  L.  A.  Scoggin. 

In  the  block  bounded  by  O  and  X  and  Eighth  and  Ninth,  there 
was  one  building,  Dunbar's  livery  stable,  located  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  block.     It  was  a  long  low  shed. 

In  the  block  bounded  by  O  and  P  and  Eighth  and  Ninth,  tlieix? 
were  two  or  three  buildings.  On  the  southeast  corner,  where  tlie 
Humphrey  Bros.'  stately  block  now  is.  Dr.  H.  D.  Gilbert,  of  Nebraska 
11 


154 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Citv,  liiul  established  a  mercantile  house,  carrying  the  peculiar  combi- 
nation of"  books,  drugs,  and  hardware.  His  little  house  stood  beside 
the  store  to  the  north.  Humj)hrey  Brothers  succeeded  Dr.  Gilbert 
j?oon  afterward.  JMilton  Langdon,  the  first  County  Treasurer  of 
Lancaster  county  under  the  new  order  of  things,  lived  a  little  back 
from  the  southwest  corner  of  Eighth  and  Q.  His  milk  house,  which 
Avas  a  little  to  the  southward,  became  the  first  city  and  county  jail. 
"When  a  citizen  became  too  "wild  and  woolly,"  they  "put  him  in  the 
milk  house."  It  is  a  question  in  dispute  whether  J.  I).  Minshall 
had  a  small  store  of  dry  goods  and  groceries  on  P,  between  Eighth 


NORTHWEST   COKNER   O   AND   NINTH. 


and  Ninth,  or  not,  in  18G8.  Simon  Benadom  says  he  is  certain  that 
he  did.  Charles  F.  Damrow  thinks  that  he  did,  also.  Others  think 
he  never  was  anywhere  but  on  O  street,  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh, 
south  side.     liut  he  was  doubtless  there. 

In  the  block  bounded  by  P  and  Q  and  Eighth  and  Ninth,  there 
were  two  or  three  houses.  H.  S.  Jennings  had  put  up  a  stone  resi- 
dence near  the  northeast  corner.  It  is  thought  by  several  pioneers 
that  there  were  two  or  three  small  houses  on  the  south  side,  facing  P, 
one  of  which  was  the  AVidow  (Jardner's  dance  house,  which  was  a 
famous,  or  infamous,  attraction  during  the  legislative  session  of  1869. 
But  these  are  not  all  fnllv  authenticated.    Near  the  northwest  corner 


GROW'J'H    OF   THE    VILLAGE.  155 

of  Ninth  and  Q  a  story-and-a-half  cottonwood  framo  stood.  It  was 
thirty -three  feet  square,  and  was  partly  used  for  public  and  partly  for 
private  purposes. 

In  the  block  bounded  by  P  and  Q  and  Kintli  and  Tenth,  there  were 
six  or  more  structures  of  various  sorts  and  sizes.  At  the  northwest 
corner  was  the  Pioneer  House,  the  original  hotel  in  Lincoln,  kei)t  by 
L.  A.  Scoggin.  John  Cadniau  had  overcome  his  disappointment  at 
not  getting  the  capital,  and  having  bought  the  lots  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  block,  on  which  the  walls  of  the  old  stone  seminary 
stood,  he  built  up  that  structure  late  in  1867,  and  opened  it  as  the 
"Cadman  House."  He  only  owned  it  a  few  months,  until  he  sold 
it,  in  1868,  to  Nathan  Atwood,  who  built  a  brick  front  to  it  of  much 
larger  proportions,  and  opened  the  "Atwood  House,"  which  was  the 
principal  hotel  of  the  town  for  several  years,  but  was  burned  down 
in  1879.  On  the  northeast  corner  was  the  Methodist  church,  a  low 
white  building,  erected  late  in  1867  or  early  in  1868.  It  was  the 
largest  audience  room  in  town  for  several  years,  and  was  used  for 
ehurch  services,  political  and  business  meetings,  lectures,  and  sindlar 
public  purposes.     Its  dimensions  were  about  25x40  feet. 

Seth  B.  Galey  having  been  appointed  County  Clerk  in  April,  I8(i7, 
and  been  elected  to  that  office  in  the  fall  of  1867,  erected  a  small  stone 
office  on  P  street,  where  John  Sheedy's  block  now  is,  in  which  he 
transacted  the  county's  business  belonging  to  his  department.  Next 
to  him  on  the  west  was  a  little  building  in  which  S.  B.  Pound  and 
Seth  Robinson  opened  a  law  office.  At  922  P  street  was  the  Mon- 
teith  shoe  shop,  heretofore  mentioned. 

On  the  block  bounded  by  Q  and  P  and  Eleventh  and  Twelfth,  a 
short  distance  north  of  the  southwest  corner,  was  the  "■  stone  ^cliQol- 
house."  This  was  the  first  school-house  in  Lincoln.  The  stone 
school-house  was  the  educational  center  during  several  subsequent 
years. 

In  the  block  included  between  O  and  P  and  Tenth  and  Eleventh 
streets  the  first  saloon  v.as  started,  by  Ans.  and  George  A\'illiams. 
This  was  the  first  buildnig  completed  on  the  east  side  of  the  Govern- 
ment Square.  It  stood  north  of  the  center  of  i\\Q  block,  and  the  uj)- 
per  floor  was  used  for  offices.  The  front  room  was  Thomas  H.  Hyde's 
land  office,  where  he  transacted  the  leading  land  business  of  the  town 
durino;  1868  and  later.     Mr.  Hvde  was  an  auctioneer  at  the  State  lot 


156  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

sales  ill  1868.  His  office  was  head-quarters  for  State  officers  ami  pol- 
iticians, Governor  Butler  often  resorting  there  to  transact  business. 
In  after  vears  the  lower  room  became  a  notorious  saloon,  where  more 
prominent  men  of  the  town  drank  whisky  to  their  detriment  than  at 
any  other  place  in  the  city.  It  is  said  that  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
leading  men  of  Lincoln  have  snuffed  out  their  prospects  at  that  bar. 
This  old  Cottonwood  frame  still  stands,  at  1320  O  street,  and  is  used 
as  a  second-hand  store. 

A  good  story  is  told  on  Colonel  J.  E.  Philpott,  who  arrived  in  the 
capital  about  this  time.  When  he  looked  around  for  a  law  office,  he 
found  empty  the  upper  front  room  of  the  building  in  which  the  Wil- 
liams boys  had  their  bar.  He  took  possession,  and  awaited  the  process 
of  events.  After  a  few  days  a  tall,  dignified-looking  man  came  into  his 
office,  and  said  he  was  looking  for  a  room  in  which  to  transact  a  land 
business.  Colonel  Philpott  thereupon  proceeded  to  lease  the  stranger 
a  part  of  his  office,  and  everything  went  on  swimmingly,  until  it  was 
developed,  later  on,  that  the  stranger  was  the  owner  of  the  building, 
or  ^Ir.  Thomas  H.  Hyde,  and  Colonel  Philpott  had  leased  Mr.  Hyde 
quarters  in  his  own  building.  Mr.  Hyde  had  been  away  on  a  land- 
exploring  tour,  and  finding  Colonel  Philpott  in  his  house  on  return- 
ing, played  "tenderfoot"  to  have  a  little  fun. 

Dr.  D.  A.  Sherwood  had  a  real  estate  office  near  the  southeast  corner 
of  this  block,  and  a  small  stock  of  groceries  in  the  same  building. 

Behind  these  shops,  to  the  north  and  west,  was  located  the  first  lum- 
ber yard  in  Lincoln.  The  proprietors  of  the  yard  were  Mouell  & 
Larkley.  Soon  afterward  Valentine  Brothers  opened  a  lumber  yard 
on  the  ground  fronting  on  Eleventh,  from  M  to  N  streets,  where 
Temple  Block  and  the  Billingsley  Block  now  are.  This  firm  supplied 
most  of  the  lumber  used  in  building  the  old  State  capitol.  During 
1868  and  1869  both  yards  employed  teams  to  bring  the  lumber  from 
the  Missouri  river,  at  a  point  about  six  miles  above  Nebraska  City. 
Farmers  and  freighters  going  to  the  river  with  loads  would  return 
loaded  with  lumber,  and  the  lumber  trains  were  often  long  caravans. 

A,  J.  Cropsey  built  a  residence  where  the  south  end  of  the  Capital 
hotel  now  is.  Early  in  the  fall  of  1867  W.  W.  Carder  had  estab- 
lished the  first  newspa])er  of  the  town,  near  the  middle  of  the  east 
side  of  the  block  bounded  by  X  and  O  and  Tenth  and  Eleventh  streets. 
This  was  the  CorinnonioedHh,  which  in  the  summer  of  1868  became  the 


GROWTH    OF    THE    VILLAGE.  157 

State  Journal.  A  little  west  of  Carder's  office  was  the  beer  saloon  of 
Joe  Hodges,  who  is  said  to  have  dished  out  the  first  lager  sold  in  Lin- 
coln. Whisky  had  been  sold  for  two  years  or  more  before  tiiis. 
Over  on  the  southwest  corner  of  this  block  AVilliam  Shirley  had  erected 
a  boarding  house,  and  next  to  this  building,  on  the  north,  was  Cox's 
grocery  and  boarding  house.  About  where  Ilarlcy's  drug  store  now 
is,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Eleventh  and  O,  stood  A\'illiam  Rowe's 
harness  shop,  who  was  the  pioneer  horse  furnisher  of  the  town.  About 
three  lots  east  on  O  street  M-as  J.  P.  Lantz's  land  office.  Mr.  Lantz 
also  conducted  a  real-estate  monthly  for  about  seven  years,  called  the 
Nebraska  Intelligencer.  Of  that  he  used  to  print  an  edition  of  10,000 
copies  at  times,  and  it  was  the  means  of  inducing  many  to  come  to 
Nebraska.  Mr.  Lantz  is  still  in  the  real  estate  business,  on  nearly  the 
.same  spot  he  occupied  in  1868.  A  couple  of  lots  to  the  eastward  was 
William  Guy's  residence.  On  the  southeast  corner  of  Twelfth  and  O 
streets  Avas  Charles  May's  bakery,  where  D.  B.  Alexander's  block  is 
now  located.  May  baked  150  loaves  per  day  in  1868.  He  also  had 
a  homestead.  William  Allen  had  a  residence  nearly  opposite,  north, 
uear  where  the  Burr  Block  stands.  Leiffhton  &  Brown  had  a  small 
drug  store  on  the  southeast  corner  of  O  and  Eleventh,  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Richards  Block.  Seth  H.  Robinson  lived  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Twelfth  and  P  streets,  where  Mr.  R.  E.  Moore  now  resides. 
It  is  said  that  Thomas  Roberts  had  the  first  harness  shop  in  town, 
near  the  southwest  corner  of  Eleventh  and  O;  but  this  is  in  dispute. 

Such  was  Lincoln  in  1868.  There  may  have  been  a  few  small 
shops  and  residences  in  addition  to  those  named,  but  those  described 
substantially  constituted  the  capital  of  Nebraska  twenty-one  years  ago. 

The  ordinary  trades  were  fully  represented  at  this  time.  The  pro- 
fessions were  also.  S.  B.  Galey,  Seth  Robinson,  S.  B.  Pound,  Ezra 
Tullis,  Major  Strunk,  and  J.  E.  Philpott,  were  the  lawyers  of  this 
period.  The  first  man  admitted  to  the  bar  in  this  county  was  John 
S.  Gregory,  who  became  a  disciple  of  Blackstone  under  the  authority 
of  Judge  Dundy  in  1866.  He  and  Milton  Langdon  had  practiced  in 
the  little  legal  affiiirs  of  Lancaster  settlement  back  in  1864  and  1865, 
but  they  did  this  because  they  were  somewhat  more  "  posted  "  than  the 
other  pioneers  of  the  neighborhood.  Robinson  was  a  man  of  brill- 
iant mind,  but  not  perfectly  balanced.  He  became  Attorney  General 
of  Nebraska  in   LS69.     He  died  in  California  of  quinsy  a  few  years 


158  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

ago.  S.  B.  Pound  has  since  held  the  office  of  Probate  Judge,  [1871,] 
District  Judge  in  1875,  and  State  Senator.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1875,  which  framed  our  present  State 
constitution.  He  formed  a  law  partnership  with  L.  C.  Burr  in  1887, 
having  resigned  the  judgship  at  that  time,  owing  to  the  low  salary  at- 
tached to  it.  Major  Strunk  was  a  resonant  political  orator  of  the 
early  days,  and  slipped  from  the  community  in  an  unceremonious  halo 
of  social  indiscretion.  Col.  Philpott  is  in  the  addition  to  the  Sweet 
Block,  having  officed  in  the  original  block  when  some  of  the  county 
and  State  officers  were  doing  business  there.  It  was  here,  in  1869, 
that  the  colonel  became  the  unwilling  victim  of  one  of  his  own  prac- 
tical jokes.  He  was  in  partnership  with  Sam  Tuttlc,  with  an  office 
at  the  east  end  of  the  block,  on  the  upper  tloor.  H.  G.  Brown,  a  good 
fellow,  with  a  disposition  to  take  things  too  seriously,  was  on  the 
same  floor,  and  was  Deputy  Clerk  of  both  the  District  and  Supi-eme 
courts.  Philpott  and  Tuttle  persuaded  Brown  to  go  down  to  the  back 
yard  at  night  to  appropriate  a  little  fire-wood  for  them  from  a  pile 
belonging  to  the  county.  Brown  obligingly  w^ent  down  for  the  w^ood, 
and  Philpott  slipped  out  and  hid  behind  some  sunflowers  that  grew 
further  east  in  the  yard.  When  Brown  had  filled  his  arms  with  wood, 
Philpott  rose  up  suddenly  and  began  to  fire  off  his  revolver,  as  if  he 
had  caught  Brown  stealing  wood,  expecting  that  the  latter  would  drop 
the  wood  he  had  and  run  precipitately  to  cover.  Then  they  would 
enjoy  the  joke  on  Brown  at  their  leisure.  This  was  the  theory  of  the 
joke.  But  plans  of  jokers,  like  those  of  mice,  do  not  always  go  the 
satisfactory  ^\^^dy.  No  sooner  had  Philpott's  gun  flashed  than  Brown 
dropped  his  wood  and  wheeled  toward  Philpott's  hiding  place  with 
the  savage  remark : 

"Ah  ha !  you'll  find  that's  a  game  that  two  can  play  at ! " 

And  to  Col.  Pjiilpott's  dismay  he  began  to  reach  for  his  hip  pocket 
to  get  out  his  revolver.  Col.  Philpott  saw  that  something  must  be 
done  to  ease  the  situation,  and  that  in  a  hurry.  So  he  sprang  out  into 
Brown's  view  and  thrcM'  up  his  hands,  gesticulating  wildly  while  he 
protested  with  an  intense  earnestness  he  had  not  experienced  for  years: 

"Don't  shoot.  Brown,  don't  shoot!  It's  me,  l*hi]pott — just  a  joke 
—  that's  all!" 

Brown  was  not  cooled  down  at  once,  and  groMded  tiiat  "he'd  a  no- 
tion to  shoot  l*lii]])ott  anyway,  just  on  account  of  his  blamed  foolish- 


GROWTH    OF   THE    VILLAGE.  159 

ness."  Then  Brown  went  off  indignantly,  and  refused  to  be  friendly 
for  some  time.  All  this  time  Tuttle  was  looking  out  of  the  window- 
having  all  the  fun  there  was  in  the  performance. 

In  1868  a  drove  of  1,000  Texas  cattle  passed  through  J.iiuoln 
northward  bound.  In  going  over  the  Salt  creek  bridge,  at  the  foot 
of  O  street,  the  cattle  broke  the  structure  down,  precipitating  a  lot  of 
the  long-horned  bovines  of  Texas  into  the  stream.  The  owner  of  the 
herd  camped  just  across  the  creek,  and  the  town  trustees,  Messrs.  H. 
8.  Jennings,  S.  B.  Linderman,  Dr.  H.  D.  Gilbert,  J.  J.  Van  Dyke, 
and  D.  W.  Tingley,  donned  their  official  dignity  and  proceeded  to\\ard 
the  camp  to  require  the  proprietor  of  the  herd  to  pay  for  the  bridge. 
Major  Bohanan  and  others  of  the  population  who  were  posted  on  tiie 
science  of  the  Texas  steer,  followed  at  a  prudent  distance  to  see  tiie 
fun.  The  trustees  marched  up  to  the  steers  in  solemn  state  and  ai-t- 
less  innocence.  The  animals  raised  up  their  heads  in  audacious  amaze- 
ment, and  began  to  move  toward  the  officials  of  the  city,  who  found 
it  convenient  to  commence  retracing  their  steps.  This  official  retreat 
was  at  first  conducted  in  good  order,  but  the  accelerated  movement 
of  the  steers,  and  finally  a  charge  from  the  animals,  turned  the  retire- 
ment of  the  town  officers  into  a  precipitate  rout,  and  they  came  pell 
mell  back  to  cover  with  the  steers  in  full  pursuit.  Having  escaped, 
they  then  summoned  the  jiosse  comitatus,  and  the  owner  of  the  steers 
was  required  to  pay  for  the  bridge;  and  their  terms  were  not  improved 
by  the  bad  manners  of  his  wild  western  cattle. 

The  doctors  were  here  with  the  earliest  comers.  Dr.  J.  M.  Mc- 
Kesson has  already  been  mentioned  as  one  of  Elder  Young's  i)arty, 
of  1863.  Besides  him  there  were  in  1868  and  1869  Doctors  H.  D. 
Gilbert,  George  W.  French,  and  J.  W.  Strickland.  When  the  Lan- 
caster County  Medical  Society  was  organized,  on  the  24th  of  ^lay, 
1869,  the  following-named  resident  physicians  of^the  capital  were 
present:  D.  W.  Tingley,  F.  G.  Fuller,  J.  M.  Evans,  II.  D.  Gilbert, 
L.  H.  Bobbins,  and  George  \V.  French.  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  the  following  additional  names  were  added  to  the  roster:  J.  W. 
Strickland,  John  AV.  Xorthup,  George  A.  Goodrich,  and  C.  C.  Bad- 
more. 

Politics  in  a  new  country  never  exhibits  a  character  of  tameness. 
Some  one,  probably  Seth  P.  Galey,  had  organized  the  Beiniblican 
party  about  1866.     Galey  was  a  natural  leader.     He  stood  six  feet 


160  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

ill  liis  stockings,  and  was  as  successful  as  he  was  large  j3hysically. 
He  was  county  judge  in  1867  and  1868.  In  1870  lie  went  to  the 
Legislature,  and  in  1879  was  chosen  Mayor  of  Lincoln.  He  carried 
a  hod  to  finish  the  stone  seminary  in  1866,  and  was  attorney  for  the 
Atchison  &  Nebraska  railroad  in  1871  or  1872.  He  is  uoav  living 
in  Portland,  Oregon.  There  were  many  Union  soldiers  here  in  1868> 
ouly  three  or  four  years  out  of  the  war,  and  they  were  intensely  en- 
thusiastic for  their  old  leader,  General  Grant,  in  the  Grant  and  Col- 
fax campaign  of  1868.  So  it  was  easy  to  stir  up  a  hot  discussion, 
especially  with  such  candidates  as  Grant  and  Seymour,  the  iatter's 
war  record  being  decidedly  unsatisfactory  to  the  soldiers. 

Some  time  during  September,  1868,  Simon  P.  Benadom,  who  had 
been  appointed  a  postmaster  in  Jones  county,  Iowa,  in  1856,  by  Bu- 
chanan, and  was  a  warm  Democrat,  called  a  county  convention  of  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  county.  This  was  rather  regarded  as  a  joke 
by  the  Republicans.  When  the  day  came  there  were  just  three  Dem- 
ocrats, besides  Benadom,  present  in  the  old  stone  school  house,  two 
of  whom  were  Irish  stone  cutters  from  the  State  Capitol  building. 
Benadom  was  chairman  and  secretary  of  the  convention,  and  an  or- 
ganization was  effected.  Benadom  was  selected  for  chairman  of  the 
county  committee,  and  also  of  the  senatorial  committee,  places  he 
held  for  years  afterward.  It  was  decided  to  erect  a  Seymour  and 
Blair  "liberty  pole"  on  Market  Square,  preparatory  to  holding  a 
rousing  Democratic  rally  there  in  October,  A  committee  was  selected 
to  procure  the  pole,  but  on  the  appointed  day  not  a  man  appeared 
but  Benadom.  He  remembered  the  old  story  of  the  lark  and  the 
farmer,  and  immediately  drove  his  lumber  wagon  to  his  woods,  near 
Saltillo.  There  he  found  Matt  Brackin,  now  commissary  to  the  city 
jail,  whom  he  invited  to  aid  in  getting  'the  pole.  Brackin  was  then 
and  is  yet  a  Democrat,  and  readily  consented.  They  loaded  three 
.stalwart  hickory  saplings,  and  drove  to  Lincoln.  Benadom  welded 
iron  rings,  and  the  three  poles  were  spliced  together,  and  made  a 
flag  staff  probably  fifty-five  feet  high.  It  took  all  the  Democrats  in 
the  town  to  raise  it  to  a  perpendicular  pcjsition.  But  they  planted  it,  a 
little  to  the  southeast  of  the  place  where  the  Government  Square  ar- 
tesian well  now  is.  Benadom  renienil)ers  this  zealous  work  yet  as  a 
hot  and  difficult  performance  that  almost  sweat  ])olitics  out  of  him 
for  the  time. 


GROWTH    OF    THE    VILLAGE.  U>\ 

About  three  weeks  afterward  the  Democratic  rally  took  i)la(c 
around  that  pole.  A  platform  had  been  erected  at  its  base,  and  upon 
it  Judge  Savage,  of  Omaha,  stood  while  he  made  a  short  and  fierv 
speech  to  the  assembled  Democrats.  Then  A.  J.  Poppleton  addressed 
the  crowd  for  two  hours,  and  it  seemed  to  the  followers  of  Seymour 
present  that  they  had  never  heard  a  more  eloquent  speech.  It  estab- 
lished Poppleton's  reputation  as  an  orator  of  power,  from  that  day 
to  this,  among  Lancaster  Democrats,  and  also  among  many  Repub- 
licans. General  Victor  A^ifquain,  now  Consul  of  the  United  States 
at  Aspinwall,  Panama,  was  present  also. 

This  demonstration  of  the  Democracy  around  the  hickory  pole, 
supposed  to  be  symbolic  of  "Old  Hickory,"  fired  up  the  Republicans. 
They  had  to  have  a  pole  also,  and  to  excel  the  Democrats.  They 
sent  to  the  river  yards,  (it  was  at  that  time  told  to  the  Democrats 
■even  to  Chicago,)  for  several  very  fine  pine  timbers.  The  base  tim- 
ber was  perhaps  a  foot  square,  and  was  left  square.  The  next  sec- 
tion was  smaller,  and  was  made  with  eight  sides.  The  next  was  of 
less  dimensions,  and  Avith  more  faces.  The  pole  finally  tapered  off  in 
a  graceful  round  staff  not  lai'ger  than  a  man's  wrist.  When  com- 
pleted by  Mr.  Sam  McClay,  the  leading  Democrats  admitted  it  to  be 
the  most  graceful  and  lofty  flag  staff"  they  had  ever  seen.  It  was  so 
heavy  and  tall  that  the  Democrats  had  to  assist  in  planting  it.  It 
was  so  top  heavy  and  flexible  in  the  wind,  that  it  had  to  be  stayed 
by  ropes.  It  penetrated  the  atmosphere  to  a  height  of  one  hundred 
feet.  It  cost  the  Republicans,  it  Avas  reported  at  the  time  to  the  Dem- 
ocrats, three  hundred  dollars.  This  was  perhaps  a  little  higher  than 
the  facts.  It  was  set  up  some  distance  north  of  the  Democratic  ])ole. 
The  Republicans  Avere  very  proud  of  the  surpassing  excellence  of  their 
pole,  and  probably  took  some  pains  to  exult  at  the  expense  of  the 
Democratic  staff'. 

At  any  rate,  toAvard  the  close  of  the  campaign  it  Avas  found  one 
morning  to  have  been  broken  in  three  pieces,  and  two  fragments, 
with  the  flag,  Avere  on  the  ground.  This  fired  the  blood  of  the  Re- 
publicans, particularly  of  the  old  soldiers.  They  thought  their  staff' 
had  been  broken  through  political  envy,  or  even  malice.  They  sus- 
pected a  stage  driver  named  Pool  Avith  having  committed  this  flagi'ant 
act,  and  a  Avarrant  was  immediately  procured  of  County  eludge  Jt>hn 
Cadman  for  Pool's  arrest.     Sheriff  J.  11.  Hawke  brought  Pool  back 


162  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

to  the  city  at  the  close  of  the  day,  and  he  was  immediately  arraigned 
before  Judge  Cadman  in  a  little  frame  building,  used  for  a  saloon  by 
Joe  Hodges,  on  O  street,  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh,  where  McCon- 
nell's  brick  block  now  stands.  The  room  was  packed  with  men,  and 
the  ground  in  front  was  occupied  l)y  an  angry  crowd  of  old  soldiers 
and  others,  who  freely  declared  they  would  hang  Pool  if  found  guilty ; 
and  very  few  who  saw  the  menacing  demonstrations  doubted  that  they 
would  carry  out  their  threat. 

S.  B.  Pound  and  C.  H.  Gere  conducted  the  prosecution,  and  J. 
E.  Philpott,  H.  S.  Jennings,  and  Col.  Van  Armin,  the  defense.  The 
trial  had  hardly  opened  before  the  floor  broke  down,  and  dropped 
the  court,  attorneys,  prisoners,  and  reporters,  to  the  ground,  about  a 
foot  below.  But  a  small  afi^air  like  this  cut  no  figure  when  a  man 
was  on  trial  for  his  life  on  a  vague  suspicion  of  having  cut  down  a 
Grant  and  Colfax  flag  staif,  and  the  trial  went  on.  It  soon  devel- 
oped that  there  was  no  evidence  against  Pool,  and  he  was  discharged, 
and  was  hustled  ofl"  into  the  dark,  by  the  back  way.  While  the 
Grand  Army  men  did  not  wish  to  hang  a  man  who  really  had  not 
committed  the  oifense,  yet  Pool  found  it  convenient  to  keep  out  of 
sight  for  a  good  while  after  this.  The  pieces  of  the  broken  staff  had 
been  arranged  for  a  gallows  in  front  of  the  court  room,  the  rope  was 
adjusted,  and  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  looked  so  like  some  one  was 
goiiig  to  be  executed,  that  no  one  could  blame  him  for  finding  as  though 
it  was  not  conducive  to  long  life  to  remain  in  the  capital  of  Nebraska.. 

At  the  election  following  this  fiery  pi'oceeding  there  were  4G0  votes 
cast  in  the  county,  of  which  the  Republicans  polled  320,  and  the  Dem- 
ocrats 123. 

This  was  not  the  only  time  that  a  man  escaped  by  a  hair's  breadth 
from  being  taken  from  a  Lincoln  court  and  hung.  In  1869  a  man 
named  Bill  McClain  was  suspected  of  horse  stealing.  He  was  ar- 
raigned before  Judge  Cadman,  and  an  angry  crowd,  led  by  Martin 
Pflug,  the  merchant,  were  actually  uncoiling  their  rope;  but  the  em- 
phatic protestations  of  Simon  Bcnadom  and  the  size  of  Judge  Cad- 
man induced  the  mob  to  cool  down  and  disperse.  Judge  Cadman  was 
a  very  powerful  i.nan,  and  he  told  Benadom  that  he  would  have 
pitched  out  the  leaders  of  the  mob  ihstcr  than  they  could  come  into 
the  room  where  he  was,  had  tliey  attempted  the  assault. 

iVfter  much  labor  and  in(|uiry,a  diagram  of  the  town,  as  it  appeared 


(- 
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.  H.  S.  JenningiS  miden 
.  Oipt.  W.  T.  Donown'. 
.  John  [jLHsdon's  log  ted 
.  Langdon*!  niilk  hoUK  — 

.  Ur.  H.  D.  Gilbert'!  rtaji 
.  Githett'*  dnig  ttore  and 

.  DuRbnt-t  livery  »Ublc. 


iS.  Moi 


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It. 

UavM  Miy— clothing. 

»> 

R.  R.  Tioelcy— dnig  »iore. 

0.  ¥.  D*mrow— iailor»hoj>. 

31. 

Shirley**  biMnliiiK  haui«. 

JJ 

0»-sroeery  and  boarding  houM. 

as 

llaiA'*  land  olB«. 

3^ 

Bain  Bros — elolhing  — first  in  Lincoln 

a; 

Joe.  Hodge'*  beer  w!oon-fi«i  beer  wl 

iX 

Tom  Robcfft  haineti  shop— (in  di.puie 

39 

Cc«m<,»w*^I,k  office  _  by  Crrter. 

V> 

Squire  RUiicr'a  meat  maikel. 

11 

Sweet  &.  Brock'*  bank. 

,i; 

A.  C.  Rudolph— groceries 

11 

Pflog  Broi.'  More. 

14 

Waltli  &  l>uinam~land  olTlcc. 

If 

Willianii  Dfot.'  taloon. 

,10 

D,  A.  Sherwood— g:roc«ry  uorc. 

37 

D.  A.  Sherwood— real  male. 

41.  Monieith'i  »hoc  (hop. 
41.  Cndmart  Ftoiue — old  itonc  arminafy. 
4j,  IV>und  k  Robinton'a  law  office. 
44    S.  B.  Galey— coonly  clerk. 

45,  Methodic  Chorch-built  in  i867-«. 

46.  I^oneer  IIouw— lirU  hotel  in  Lincoln. 
4;.  Old  ttone  (choo)  houic—baill  in  1867. 
4K-  Sclh  Robinwn'*  hou>e. 

49.   Lcigblon  &  lliuwn'*  drug  tlorr. 

JO.  Wm.  Kowel'k  hameuthop. 

51.  J.  P.  I*nti-l»nd  office. 

;z,  William  Cuy'»   rc»rdenoc— fint   hou<c 

5J.  Valcniinc  Brot.'  lumber  yaii. 

54.  C.  May-bakery. 

55.  Uike  Uvender't  hotue—buili  in  1864. 


GROWTH    OF   THE   VILLAGE.  16$ 

in  1868,  has  been  prepared  for  this  book.  It  shows  where  each  house 
then  in  existence  stood,  as  remembered  by  the  pioneers  now  living. 
There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  about  several  buildings,  and  some 
may  be  omitted,  but  this  chart  is  approximately  correct.  It  is  accom- 
panied with  a  key,  so  that  it  can  be  readily  understood. 

The  contract  for  building  the  old  State  capitol  having  been  let,  on 
January  11,  1868,  to  Joseph  Ward,  the  work  had  progressed  steadily 
all  the  season  of  that  year,  so  that  on  December  3,  1868,  Governor 
Butler  announced  by  proclamation  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment from  Omaha  to  Lincoln, 

The  United  States  land  office  was  removed  from  Nebraska  City  to 
Lincoln  in  1868,  and  Mr.  Stewart  McConiga,  the  popular  Register, 
was  kept  as  busy  as  a  bee  assisting  immigrants  to  take  homesteads. 
In  fact,  men  stood  in  rows,  awaiting  their  turn  to  take  a  claim. 

So  1868  was  a  successful  year  for  the  new  capital,  and  the  future 
was  full  of  hope.  On  petition  of  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the 
village,  the  County  Commissioners,  on  April  7,  1868,  ordered  "that 
the  town  of  Lincoln  be  declared  a  body  incorporate,  and  that  the 
powers  and  privileges  be  granted  them  as  by  the  Statute  in  such  cases 
are  made  and  provided."  Messrs.  L.  A.  Scoggin,  B.  F.  Cozad,  Dr. 
Potter,  W.  W.  Carder,  and  A.  L.  Palmer,  were  appointed  Trustees  of 
the  corporation.  An  election  was  held  on  May  18,  1868,  at  which 
H.  S.  Jennings,  S.  B.  Linderman,  H.  D.  Gilbert,  J.  J.  Van  Dyke,  and 
D.  W.  Tingley,  were  elected  Trustees.  But  sixty  votes  were  cast  at 
this  election,  and  the  town  government  failed  to  continue  the  organi- 
zation during  that  year. 

The  corporate  existence  of  Lincoln,  therefore,  dates  from  1869,  and 
the  events  of  that  period  of  almost  precisely  twenty  years,  1869  to 
1889,  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


164  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Lincoln  foe  Twenty  Yeaks,  From  1869  to  1889— Its  Remarkable  Growth 
—The  Increase  in  Population  by  Years — Water  Works,  Paving, 
Sewerage — Evidences  of  the  City's  Wonderful  Improvement— The 
Floods  of  1868,  1869,  1874,  and  1889. 

On  petition  of  189  citizens,  the  town  of  Lincoln  was  ordered  incor- 
porated by  the  County  Commissioners,  April  7,  1869,  about  twenty 
years  and  three  months  ago  at  this  writing.  The  corporate  limits  w^ere 
made  to  include  section  twenty-six,  the  west  half  of  section  twenty- 
five,  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-four,  and  the  south  half 
of  section  twenty-three,  in  town  ten  north,  range  six  east.  The  town 
officers  were  as  subjoined  : 

Trustees — H.  S.  Jennings,  S.  B.  Linderman,  H.  D.  Gilbert,  J.  L. 
McConnell,  and  D.  W.  Tingley. 

Judges  of  Election  —  Seth  Robinson,  A.  J.  Cropsey,  and  J.  N.  Town- 
ley. 

The  town  election  was  held  on  May  3,  1869,  and  a  Board  of  Trust- 
ees were  chosen,  as  follows :  H.  D.  Gilbert,  C.  H.  Gere,  William 
Rowe,  Philetus  Peck,  and  J.  L.  McConnell.  The  officers  of  the 
Board  were:  H.  D.  Gilbert,  Chairman;  J.  R.  DeLand,  Clerk;  and 
^Nelson  C.  Brock,  Treasurer. 

The  year  1869  was  a  prosperous  one  for  Lincoln.  The  lot  sales  had 
been  wonderfully  successful,  assuring  all  needed  State  improvements 
to  be  derived  therefrom.  Land  sales  continued  to  be  active,  and  pop- 
ulation multiplied  in  town  and  adjacent  country.  Above  all,  the 
famously  progressive  Legislature  of  1869  met  early  in  the  year  at  the 
new  capitol,  and  not  only  approved  all  the  splendid  work  of  Governor 
David  Jiutler  and  Commissioners  John  Gillespie  and  T.  P.  Kennard, 
but  also  made  provision  for  further  progress  on  a  most  wise  and  mag- 
nificent scale. 

Hon.  C.  H.  Gere,  in  his  address  to  the  Old  Settlers'  Association,  at 
Cushman  park,  on  June  19,  1889,  tells  of  the  deeds  of  this  great  Leg- 
islature in  the  following  terms,  which  are  none  too  complimentary: 


EEMARKABLE    GROWTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  1G5 

The  members  of  the  first  Legislature  brought  their  cots,  blankets,  and  pillows; 
with  them  in  their  overland  journeys  in  wagons  (hired)  or  the  jerkies  of  the  stage 
line,  and  lodged,  some  in  newly-erected  store  buildings,  some  in  the  upper  rooms  of 
the  State  House,  while  the  wealthier  law-makers  boldly  registered  at  the  Atwood 
hostelry,  and  paid  their  bills  for  extras,  including  "noise  and  confusion  "'  during 
the  Senatorial  mill  between  Tipton,  Butler,  and  Marquett;  and  how  they  all  agreed, 
after  some  preliminary  hair-pulling,  that  the  new  capitol  was  a  success,  and  or- 
dered a  dome  erected  thereon  reaching  the  upper  atmosphere,  and  confirmed  the 
deeds,  regular  and  irregular,  of  the  Commission,  and  gave  us  a  cemetery  in  which 
to  bury  our  dead;  how  they  passed  a  bill  for  the  organization  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity, and  ordered  a  further  sale  of  lots  and  lands  to  build  the  dome  and  construct 
a  university  building,  a  wing  of  an  insane  hospital,  and  a  workshop  for  the  peni- 
tentiary, and  how  they  were  all  built  in  part  or  in  whole  of  the  old  red  sandstone 
of  the  vicinity,  and  came  to  grief  soon  after,  may  not  be  an  interesting  story  to-day; 
but  it  was  full  of  eloquence,  tire,  and  significance  for  those  who  were  on  the  ground 
at  the  time. 

From  the  adjournment  of  that  Legislature,  the  body  that  took  in  hand  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  new  commonwealth  and  the  laying  of  the  foundation  of  its  great  insti- 
tutions, so  ably  aided  by  the  executive  officers  of  our  first  State  administration,  to 
this  memorial  gathering,  every  six  working  days  of  every  week  of  the  twenty  years 
has  seen  completed  an  average  of  ten  buildings  on  the  site  of  the  city  consecrated 
to  the  memory  of  the  great  emancipator  and  war  President. 

No  body  of  men  in  forty  days  accomplished  more.  Ever}'  law  passed  by  that 
memorable  Legislature  of  '69  weighed  a  ton.  Its  work  was  original  and  creative, 
and  it  did  it  well.  Its  moving  spirit  was  the  Governor,  David  Butler.  Some  of 
its  members  came  down  to  Lincoln  from  hostile  localities,  and  had  it  in  their 
hearts  to  destroy  him  and  his  works;  but  before  the  session  was  a  fortnight  old, 
his  genial  though  homely  ways,  his  kindness  of  heart,  his  sturdy  common  sense, 
the  originality  of  his  genius,  and  the  boldness  of  his  conceptions,  captured  them, 
and  when  the  forty  days  were  done,  no  man  in  the  two  houses  avowed  himself  the 
enemy  of  David  Butler. 

The  contract  for  excavating  for  and  the  construction  of  the  base- 
ment of  the  State  University  was  let  to  D.  J.  Silvers  &  Son,  of  Lo- 
gansport,  Indiana,  on  June  10,  1869,  for  S23,o20,  and  work  was 
immediately  commenced.  The  corner-stone  of  the  university  was  laid 
on  September  23d,  with  Masonic  ceremonies.  The  building  was  to  be 
completed  on  or  before  December  1,  1870. 

Messrs.  Silvers  burned  the  brick  for  the  university  building  near 
where  the  Burlington  &  Missouri  river  depot  now  is.  They  bougiit 
hundreds  of  cords  of  wood  from  the  settlers,  thus  aiding  them  to  ob- 
tain money  for  current  expenses.  The  entire  bottom  in  the  region  of 
the  brick  works  was  covered  with  cords  of  wood,  sand,  lime,  chty,  and 
brick.  At  times,  during  1869,  one  hundred  cords  or  more  of  wood 
would  be  in  sight  at  one  time.     This  was  not  the  first  brick  bunu-d 


166  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

ill  the  county  or  city.  Milton  Langdoii  burned  a  kiln  of  brick,  on 
the  site  of  West  Lincoln,  as  early  as  1867,  assisted  by  John  S.  Greg- 
ory, who  supplied  the  wood.  Simon  Benadom  burned  a  kiln  of 
brick,  on  the  ground  where  the  Burlington  depot  now  stands,  early  in 
1868,  out  of  which  a  number  of  the  chimneys  were  constructed.  Seth 
Robinson  used  these  brick  to  construct  his  residence,  the  same  now 
occupied  by  R.  E.  Moore,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Twelfth  and  P 
streets.  Some  of  the  same  brick  were  used  in  building  the  Atwood 
House. 

The  contract  for  building  the  asylum  for  the  insane  was  let  to  Jo- 
seph Ward,  about  August  15,  1869,  for  $1'28,000,  and  work  pro- 
ceeded soon  thereafter. 

Besides  all  this,  the  people  of  Lincoln  still  had  a  very  high  notion 
of  the  value  of  the  Salt  Basin  as  a  commercial  aid  to  the  city.  Mr. 
John  H.  Ames,  who  was  the  pioneer  historian  of  Lincoln,  having 
published  a  series  of  articles  he  had  previously  prepared  for  the  States- 
man, a  Democratic  newspaper  of  Lincoln ;  these  were  reprinted  in 
pamphlet  form  in  1870  by  the  JournaJ  "power  press."  In  that  work, 
the  correctness  of  which  is  formally  attested  by  the  Governor,  Au- 
ditor, and  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Ames  estimates  that  882,001.60 
barrels  of  salt  can  be  made  from  a  single  well.  .Vllowing  for  cost  of 
barrels  and  every  possible  shrinkage,  he  calculates  that  a  single  well 
Avould  produce  salt  to  the  value  of  at  least  $488,970.22.  He  casts  his 
■eye  over  the  field  and  says  that :  "  While  the  railway  now  being  con- 
structed, and  those  projected,  will  give  us  direct  connection  with  the 
Eastern  markets,  and  enable  us  to  compete  with  the  Eastern  salt  man- 
ufactories upon  their  own  ground,  it  is  certain  that  we  shall  be  called 
upon  to  supply  all  the  vast  territory  lying  between  the  Mississippi 
river  and  the  Rocky  mountains,  so  that  three  dollars  per  barrel  may 
be  considered  an  extremely  low  estimate  for  the  minimum  price  at  the 
wells." 

The  foretjointr  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  wells  seems  a  little  fab- 
ulous  at  this  time,  but  when  Mr.  Ames  wrote,  the  faith  in  the  salt 
wells  was  substantially  represented  by  his  views.  Early  in  1869 
Messrs.  Cahn  and  Evans  leased  a  section  of  land  from  tlie  (iovern- 
ment,  about  one  and  one-half  miles  from  the  postofficc,  expecting  to 
open  thereon  extensive  salt  works.  They  were  still  drilling  the  well 
when  Mr.  Ames  wrote  his  account. 


REMARKABLE    GROWTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  1G7 

With  all  these  reasons  for  encouragement,  Lincoln  enjoyed  a  lavor- 
able  growth  during  1869.  In  reviewing  the  progress  of  the  town 
early  in  1870,  Mr.  Ames  sums  up  the  results  as  follows,  in  the  work 
just  quoted:  "Only  about  two  and  one-half  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  Commissioners,  by  official  proclamation,  called  the  town  of  Lin- 
coln into  existence.  The  village  of  Lancaster,  which  was  included 
within  its  site,  contained  in  all  less  than  a  half  dozen  l)uilding8  of 
every  description.  At  the  present  time  that  number  has  been  increased 
to  over  three  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  number  of  inliabitants  in 
town  will  not  fall  short  of  twenty-five  hundred  souls.  The  ai)])rccia- 
tion  of  real  property,  which  was  so  slow  at  the  time  of  the  first  pub- 
lic sales  that  the  Commissioners  nearly  despaired  of  being  able  to 
make  sufficient  sales  of  lots  to  defray  the  expenses  of  buildino-  the 
State  House,  has  risen  to  such  an  extent  that  means  have  been  obtained 
from  that  source  sufficient  not  only  for  the  building  of  the  State 
House,  but  also  for  building  the  State  University,  the  Agricultural 
College,  and  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum,  and  about  six  hundred  lots 
belonging  to  the  State  yet  remain  to  be  sold." 

In  a  following  paragraph  Mr.  Ames  continues:  "The  cash  valua- 
tion of  the  real  property  of  the  town  belonging  to  private  individu- 
als, as  ascertained  from  the  assessment  roll,  is  $450,956.  ^'incof  the 
church  societies,  for  which  reservations  of  town  lots  were  made,  as  has 
been  stated,  have  erected  neat  and  commodious  houses  of  worship,  and 
edifices  will  be  erected  by  the  remaining  societies  early  in  the  present 
autumn.  Six  societies,  namely,  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  Protestant 
Methodist,  Christian,  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  and  Catholic,  have 
been  duly  organized  for  some  time  past,  maintain  pastors,  and  ob- 
serve the  regular  stated  services.  Advantage  is  being  taken  of  the 
facilities  offered  in  the  Avidth  of  the  streets  for  setting  out  trees  for 
park  rows.  Two  large  hotels,  in  addition  to  the  one  large  and  many 
smaller  ones  now  in  use,  have  been  constructed,  while  the  business  of 
buildino-  substantial  residences  and  business  houses  is  being  engaged 
in  to  an  extent  difficult  of  belief  to  one  who  has  not  seen  it.  .Vnd 
one  thing  at  least  is  evident:  that  is,  that  every  one  in  Lincoln  is  con- 
fident that  he  has  cast  his  lines  in  pleasant  places,  and  where  there  is 
to  be,  within  a  few  years,  a  large,  prosperous,  and  beautiful  city." 

At  this  time,  early  in  1870,  Mr.  Ames  explains  that :  "In  Lancas- 
ter county  there  are  no  longer  any  Government  lands  subject  to  home- 
stead and  preemption." 


168  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

In  a  paragraph  further  on  he  remarks  that  "the  cars  are  now  run- 
niug  on  four  raih'oads,  which  are  surveyed  and  in  all  likelihood  will 
be  built  to  Lincoln.  The  Burlington  and  INIissouri  River  railroad  is 
now  completed  to  Lincoln,  and  will  take  a  westerly  direction  to  Ft. 
Kearney,  with  the  Union  Pacific,  thus  placing  it  at  nearly  the  center 
of  a  irreat  transcontinental  thoroughfare." 

During  the  summer  of  1868  the  Co^ninoniccaUh  had  become  the 
Nebraska  State  Journal,  whicli  now  was  a  daily.  The  Statesman  was 
a  weekly  Democratic  paper,  and  the  Intelligencer  was  a  monthly  real 
estate  periodical. 

In  brief,  the  town  had  a  continual  run  of  progress  —  great  progress, 
consideriup;  that  it  started  in  a  wilderness  in  1867.  Then  the  wild 
and  vicious  Legislature  of  1871  disorganized  the  condition  of  prosper- 
ity of  the  town  greatly.  It  impeached  Governor  Butler,  whose  acts 
as  Commissioner  and  Governor  have  seldom  been  equaled  in  history 
for  sagacity,  courage,  and  judgment  in  the  founding  of  a  city,  and 
threatened  to  undo  all  that  had  been  done.  The  public  was  led  to  be- 
lieve that  the  location  of  the  capital  had  been  illegal,  and  property 
fell  in  value  greatly,  not  to  fully  recover  until  after  the  grasshopper 
raids,  which  extended  from  1873  to  1876.  During  the  visit  of  these 
pests  was  the  dismal  period  of  Lincoln's  history.  Property  fell  to 
ruinously  low  prices,  farmers  had  little  to  buy  with,  and  hundreds 
not  only  left  their  farms,  but  the  town  of  Lincoln  also.  But  the  more 
courageous  of  the  people  remained  through  the  days  of  the  scourge, 
and  were  Avell  rewarded  for  their  resolution.  It  was  during  the  year 
1873-74  that  ]\Ir.  George  B.  Skinner  was  elected  Street  Commissioner 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  large  number  of  men  work  to  keep  them 
from  want.  Mr.  Skinner  was  fully  equal  to  the  situation,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  reconstruct  the  surface  of  the  streets  around  Government 
Square,  and  where  needed,  and  to  make  cuts  and  fills  generally.  Some 
criticised  him  severely  and  others  applauded,  but  the  needy  grassliop- 
pcr  sutlerers  did  what  the  people  in  later  years  conceded  willingly : 
they  admitted  that  he  was  a  benefactor,  without  whose  aid  the  wolf 
could  not  have  been  kept  from  the  door  of  many  a  home. 

But  the  locusts  passed  away  in  1877,  probably  forever,  and  the  city 
revived  with  phenomenal  rapidity  :  so  much  so  that  the  census  of 
1880  showed  a  population  of  14,000.  And  from  that  day  to  this  the 
growth  has  been   both  constant  and  rapid.     The  poj)ulation  of  the 


EEMARKABLE    GROWTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  16& 

city  is  now  fully  fifty  thousaiul,  as  indicated  by  tlic  city  directory,  the 
voting  population,  and  the  school  census. 

The  growth  of  the  city  was  so  rapid  that  the  wild  animals  of  this 
region  did  not  seem  to  appreciate  the  situation  for  several  years,  and 
failed  to  move  westward  away  from  civilization.  Deer,  wolves,  and 
other  wild  animals,  were  captured  within  the  present  city  limits  as  late 
as  1872,  and  Lincoln  was  a  game  and  fur  market  for  a  nundjer  of 
years  later.  Mr.  Simon  Benadom  was  the  wholesale  fur  and  game 
merchant  of  Lincoln  and  all  surrounding  country  for  many  miles, 
from  1869  for  a  subsequent  period  of  ten  years.  In  the  winter  of 
1871  and  1872  he  went  east  with  his  stock,  and  in  a  couple  of  mouths 
returned  to  find  that  Rich  &  Oppenheimer  had  purchased  |2,000 
worth  of  furs  at  their  store,  in  course  of  busijiess  in  his  absence.  He 
purchased  these  at  once  and  bought  .*?1,80()  worth  besides  of  Simon 
Kelly,  who  had  taken  a  few  barrels  of  whisky  out  on  the  Blue  river 
and  traded  it  for  these  furs  with  trappers  he  found  there.  Mr.  Ben- 
adom used  to  buy  furs  to  the  value  of  about  $20,000  a  season  along 
about  1870  to  1872.  The  best  of  the  pelts  he  sold  in  Xew  York,  in 
person.  Others  were  disposed  of  in  Chicago  and  elsewhere.  The  fur 
trade  was  rather  depressed  in  the  winter  of  1873-4,  and  to  be  busy 
Mr.  Benadom  bought  prairie  chickens  and  quail.  In  two  months  he 
shipped  sixteen  thousand  of  each  to  New  York,  packing  them  in  boxes 
and  barrels  and  sending  them  East  in  a  frozen  condition.  It  can  be 
seen  that  this  city  was  in  a  y;reat  p-ame  countrv  fifteen  vears  ago,  whose 
natural  wildness  Avas  not  by  any  means  subdued.  In  this  connec_ 
tion  we  can  illustrate  by  saying  that  Benadom  alone  killed  fully  fifty 
deer  on  the  present  plat  of  Lincoln  during  a  few  years  after  he  came 
here,  in  1868.  He  generally  found  them  in  the  brush  and  tall  grass 
of  the  Salt  creek  bottom,  and  his  deer  hounds  having  started  one,  he 
would  catch  the  animal  on  the  fly,  being  a  precise  rifleman.  He  also 
shot  twenty-one  wolves  on  the  present  plat  of  Lincoln. 

The  Government  postoffice  was  begun  in  1874  and  completed  in 
]879,  at  a  cost  of  $200,000.  It  is  built  of  gray  limestone  from  the 
Gwyer  quarries  on  the  Platte  river.    Its  architecture  is  modern  Gothic. 

The  Lincoln  Gas  Light  Company  was  organized  in  1872,  with  :t 
capital  stock  of  $60,000,  and  has  grown  and  prospered  ever  since. 

In  1880  the  Lincoln  Telephone  Exchange  was  organized,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $10,000.     At  this  time  615  instruments  are  in  use  in: 
12 


REMARKABLE    GROAVTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  171 

the  city,  witli  connections  with  fifty-seven  towns   in   Xebraska   and 
sixty-six  towns  in  Iowa. 

The  city  voted  the  Lincoln  Street  Railway  Company  right  of  way 
on  the  streets  in  April,  1881.  Now  that  company  has  lines'connecting 
all  parts  of  the  city,  of  which  C.  J.  Ernst  is  the  efficient  manager! 
Besides,  there  are  four  other  lines.  The  Rapid  Transit  line  Mas  built 
in  1887,  and  extended  in  1888.  At  first  its  cars  were  operated  with 
dummy  engines,  but  these  are  now  used  only  on  the  part  of  the  line 
from  U  street  to  West  Lincoln.  The  Rapid  Transit  connects  West 
Lincoln  with  the  asylum,  by  way  of  Twelfth  street  in  the  city.  The 
Capital  Heights  line  has  its  present  terminus  at  O  and  Twelfth.  It 
thence  runs  to  N,  thence  to  Eighteenth,  thence  to  G,  and  eastward 
about  two  miles.  This  line  was  built  in  1888.  The  Standard  Street 
Railway  was  built  in  the  fall  of  1888,  to  connect  the  Lincoln  com- 
pany's line  on  North  Twenty-seventh  street  with  the  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity. .  The  Bethany  Heights  line  is  being  built  this  year,  to  connect 
the  Lincoln  company's  line  at  V  and  Thirty-third  with  the  Christian 
University.  One  of  these  companies  has  a  capital  of  Si, 000,000 
and  all  now  operate  over  thirty-one  miles  of  track. 

Tiie  City  Water  Works  were  begun  in  J88'2,  and  consisted  for  seven 
years  of  a  single  well  in  the  park  bounded  by  D  and  F  and  Eicrhth 
and  Sixth.  The  supply  then  was  only  about  1,000,000  gallons  per 
day.  This  well  proving  inade(|uate  to  the  demands  of  the  growino- 
city,  an  attempt  was  made  in  1887  to  increase  the  supply  bv  sinking 
a  pipe  in  the  center  of  the  well.  This  caused  the  water  to  become 
salty  in  taste.  The  same  year  ]\Ir.  Joseph  Burns  was  employed  by 
the  city  to  attempt  to  construct  a  system  of  driven  wells  in  Sixth 
street,  and  connect  them  with  the  pumping  station.  These  wells  were 
driven  a  little  too  deeply,  perhaps,  and  most  of  them  produced  salt 
water  after  a  few  days'  use.  After  great  annoyance  and  much  delay, 
it  was  finally  decided  to  attempt  to  establish  a  Avell  near  N  and  the 
channel  of  the  Antelope.  This  well  was  completed  in  July  of  the 
present  year,  and  is  now  producing  about  1,000,000  gallons  of  pure 
water  daily,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  city.  Operations  for  an 
additional  supply  in  that  vicinity  are  now  going  forward.  During 
the  last  six  weeks  operations  have  been  progressing  at  the  j)ark  wells, 
and  it  is  now  believed  that  the  trouble  will  be  done  away  with,  and 
that  pure  water  will  hereafter  be  supplied  from  that  well  also. 

The  pork-packing  business  was  begun  at  West  Lincoln  in  1881, 


172  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

with  a  capacity  of  10,000  hogs.  Now  there  are  two  hirge  packing 
houses  there,  capable  of  handling  all  the  hogs  that  can  be  bought 
for  many  miles  around.  The  dressed  beef  business  is  also  carried  on 
there,  having  been  begun  last  year.  The  packing  business  of  the 
city  is  growing  constantly,  and  will  soon  be  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant commercial  interests  of  Nebraska.  There  are  extensive  stock- 
yard facilities  connected  with  the  packing  houses. 

The  Board  of  Trade  was  organized  January  IGth,  1880,  with  a 
large  membership,  designed  to  benefit  the  city  in  every  })ussible  way. 
It  is  now  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  and  has  sevei'al  hundred 
members.  It  raised  $10,000  by  subscription  this  summer  to  adver- 
tise the  city,  and  is  a  most  enterprising  organization,  from  which  the 
city  will  reap  great  benefit  for  years  to  come.  The  officers  of  the 
board  are  given  elsewhere  in  this  chapter. 

In  1887  a  contract  was  awarded  to  H.  T.  Clarke  and  Hugh  Mur- 
phy to  pave  the  central  portions  of  the  business  part  of  the  city, 
from  N  to  S  on  Seventh,  Eighth,  and  Ninth,  and  from  N  to  Q  on 
Tenth  and  Eleventh,  and  from  N  to  P  from  Eleventh  to  Fourteenth, 
the  outside  streets  named  being  included,  and  all  comprising  the  first 
and  second  paving  districts.  The  city  had  had  no  experience  in  pav- 
ino-  whatever,  and  when  the  contractors  were  ready  to  lay  blocks,  it 
was  found  that  gas  pipe,  water  mains,  sewer  pipe,  and  street  car 
tracks,  must  all  be  put  down  before  paving  could  go  on.  This  re- 
quired a  vast  amount  of  work  and  expenditure,  and  delay  upon  delay 
accumulated  until  the  patience  of  the  public  was  wholly  exhausted. 
The  newspapers  were  filled  with  criticisms  of  the  council,  board  of  pub- 
lic works,  and  contractors.  The  streets  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
fortified  citv,  with  ditches,  trenches,  heaps  and  ridges  of  earth,  and 
business  men  were  blockaded  for  entire  blocks,  for  weeks  at  a  time, 
with  no  outlet  but  the  sidewalk,  and  in  many  cases  with  no  crossings 
for  pedestrians.  The  streets  were  frequently  flooded  with  water  to 
settle  them.  The  worst  siege  was  around  Government  Square.  The 
Capital  Hotel  was  confronted  with  a  small  swamj)  for  several  months. 

But  the  work  was  finally  done,  in  1888,  and  everybody  agreed 
that  the  results  were  worth  the  worry.  The  c^ity  was  beautified, 
verily  transformed  from  a  raw-looking  western  town,  with  sidewalks 
lull  oi'  ups  and  downs,  and  a  general  evidence  of  disorganization  and 
lack  of  system.  The  paving  was  followed  by  a  general  leveling 
down  and  extending  of  the  walks  to  conform  to  the  line  and  grade 


REMARKABT.E   GROWTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  173 

of  the  curbstone,  and  now  the  city  is  as  beautiful  as  any  phice  of  its 
age  in  the  United  States.  During  1888  and  the  present  year,  Stout 
&  Buckstaff,  who  have  contracted  for  paving  districts  tliree,  four, 
five,  six,  seven,  and  eight,  have  added  several  miles  of  paving,  so 
that  over  eight  miles  of  the  streets  of  the  city  are  now  paved,  and 
about  fifteen  miles  are  under  contract.  Much  of  the  paving  has  been 
done  with  cedar  blocks,  but  that  now  being  constructed  is  being  laid 
with  vitrified  brick,  manufactured  for  the  purpose  in  this  city  by 
Stout  &  Buckstaff'.  It  is  believed  that  this  kind  of  paving  will 
prove  durable  and  successful. 

The  sanitary  sewerage  of  the  city  is  an  extensive  system,  now  in 
perfect  operation.  The  storm-water  sewers  perform  the  service  in- 
tended, in  the  heaviest  storms.  The  water  service  of  the  city  is  very 
complete  in  all  but  the  supply,  and  that  defect  will  l)e  fully  remedied 
within  a  short  period. 

In  brief,  Lincoln  is  in  a  condition  to  continue  its  prosperity,  and 
afford  such  enjoyment  to  its  inhabitants  as  only  a  completely-built 
city  can  do,  possessed  of  such  ample  improvements  and  acquirements 
in  the  way  of  educational,  commercial,  social,  and  religious  facilities. 
With  equal  progress,  relatively,  for  ten  years,  such  as  Lincoln  has 
made  in  ten  years  past,  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  home 
cities  in  the  Nation.  The  real  value  of  the  property  of  Lincoln  is 
now  not  far  from  fifty  million  dollars.  Owing  to  the  pernicious 
system  of  assessment  in  vogue,  it  appears  much  less;  but  it  is  be- 
lieved that  a  careful  calculation  will  show  that  the  genuine  worth  of 
the  property  within  the  city  limits  is  fully  equal  to  the  sum  stated. 

The  county  is  now  erecting  a  court  house  in  the  city,  to  cost  about 
$200,000.  It  will  probably  be  completed  the  present  year.  The 
Board  of  Trade  announces  the  material  ])rogress  of  the  city  during 
1888,  taken  from  official  sources,  as  follows : 

Public  buildings  erected ^395.000  00 

Public  improvements  made ()27,368  00 

Semi-public  improvements 8S,500  00 

Railvyay  improvements (J4,9o0  00 

Business  blocks  erected 4.">9,000  00 

Residences  erected 1,014,100  00 

Churches  erected 184,r)00  <»0 

Colleges  aud  School  buildings  erected 156,500  00 

Factories  built 297,500  GO 

Total  improvements  tor  1888 $3.-287,418  00 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  State  Fair  is  located  at  Lincoln,  and  has  been  very  succe-ssful 
ever  since  it  opened  at  this  point.  Funke's  Opera  House,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  O  and  Tweltth,  is  a  first-class  theatre,  and  supplies 
all  the  leading  attractions.  It  is  now  under  the  direct  and  very  skill- 
ful management  of  INIr.  Robert  McReynolds,  who,  with  Mr.  L.  M. 
Crawford,  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  organized  a  large  theatrical  circuit  in 
1S8.S,  covering  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Colorado,  and  several  other  States. 
Companies  can  be  engaged  at  the  Lincoln  office  for  all  the  theatres  in 
the  circuit,  which  includes  all  the  jn-incipal  towns,  and  may  be  billed 
through  without  further  trouble  to  their  managers. 

In  1888  Mr.  E.  H.  Andrus  supplied  a  great  need  to  the  city  Ijy 
improving  a  well  watered  and  amply  shaded  tract  oi"  land,  about  three 
and  one-half  miles  west  of  the  city,  with  conveniences  for  outdoor 
recreation.  He  has  since  conducted  it  as  a  })ark  where  picnics,  con- 
ventions, camp-meetings,  games,  and  all  manner  of  excursions,  can 
resort  and  find  pleasant  accommodations  at  all  times.  Outings  of  an 
entire,  week  are  often  held  there,  and  excursions  of  twelve  and  fifteen 
hundred  people  frequently  visit  the  park,  especially  on  Sunday,  when 
excellent  musical  and  appropriate  j)rogrammes  are  carried  out  by  the 
leading  musicians  and  speakers  of  the  city. 

The  city  possesses  a  public  library,  founded  in  December,  1875, 
which  is  sujjported  by  taxation.  It  contains  over  5,000  volumes,  de- 
signed for  common  use,  and  most  of  the  leading  periodicals  of  the 
day  are  in  its  files.     It  is  open  every  day  in  the  week. 

The  State  Library,  at  the  cajMtol  building,  comprises  over  30,000 
volumes,  mainly  on  legal  subjects.  As  a  law  library  it  is  considered 
very  complete. 

The  State  University  library  includes  over  10,000  volumes  of  mis- 
cellaneous books.  Its  list  of  works  on  science  and  special  subjects  is 
very  elaborate. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  also  begun  to  found  a 
library,  so  that  I^ineoln  is  well  supjilied  with  scholastic  a]»i)urtenances 
for  a  place  but  twenty-two  years  old. 

Lincoln  is  at  the  point  of  confluence  of  five  or  six  small  streams 
of  different  sizes,  wiiich  together  drain  a  surface  of  over  700  s(piare 
miles.  During  Monday,  August  12,  1889,  and  part  of  the  follow- 
ing night,  the  rain  |)oun(l  down  «»vcr  all  tiiis  territory.  The  com- 
bine<l  waters  began  to  gather  at  the    Lincoln   basin  during  Monday, 


r^EMAKKAELE    (IROWTIl    AND    IMPROVEMENTS.  175 

and  rose  rapidly  all  night,  covering  niiich  of  the  low  land  near  the 
city  and  along  the  creek  to  various  depths,  depending  on  the  eleva- 
tion. From  one  to  two  thousand  families  live  on  this  low  ground, 
mostly  in  little  cottages,  and  before  Tuesday  morning  many  of  these 
houses  were  surrounded  by  water,  and  in  many  eases  partly  sub- 
merged, though  generally  the  water  only  covered  the  first  floor  but  a 
few  inches.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  water  rose  to  the  dei)th  of 
two  or  three  feet  in  the  buildings,  and  in  a  few  instances  even  to 
greater  depths.  Hundreds  of  people  were  not  aware  of  the  raj)id  rise 
of  the  water  until  it  began  to  penetrate  their  houses,  and  then  there 
was  a  general  hurry  to  eseaj)e;  but  wading  to  high  ground  over  sub- 
merged and  mirey  streets  in  the  dark,  was  no  easy  task,  and  many  did 
not  dare  attempt  it.  The  waters  continued  to  ])ile  uj)  until  'J'uesday 
morning,  and  then  the  police,  city  officers,  and  many  citizens,  came 
to  the  rescue,  and  the  frightened  residents  of  the  valley  were  gathered 
on  shore,  along  the  hill.  Many  came  to  dry  land  on  small  rafts,  others 
in  boats,  and  still  others  waded.  The  unfortunate  people  whose 
homes  were  flooded  were  generally  poor,  and  they  presented  a  forlorn 
spectacle  as  they  huddled  along  the  margins  of  the  advancing  floods, 
and  watched  the  progress  of  the  threatening  waters.  During  the  day 
Mayor  Graham  and  other  city  officials  threw  open  the  Park  school- 
house  and  other  buildings  to  the  refugees,  and  they  were  cared  for  the 
best  that  circumstances  would  permit.  All  were  rescued  by  Tuesday 
noon.  The  water  readied  its  height  toward  evening  on  Tuesday,  the 
l;3th,  and  before  morning  began  to  recede,  and  contiinied  to  fall  slowly 
until  within  usual  limits,  which  rc(piired  most  of  the  week.  Fortu- 
nately the  weather  was  warm  and  pleasant  after  Tuesday  morning. 
After  the  flood  the  houses  were  wet,  the  yards  sloppy,  and  the  streets 
mirey,  in  the  flooded  district,  and  it  required  several  days  for  the 
people  to  get  back  into  their  homes.  Not  much  damage  was  done  the 
houses,  though  gardens  were  ruined,  furniture  partly  spoiled,  and 
the  atmosphere  rendered  unhealthful  and  disagreeable.  No  lives  were 
lost. 

Many  factories,  lumber-yards,  and  similar  business  institutions, 
were  flooded  and  damaged.  The  water  Avas  over  most  of  the  tracks 
south  of  O  street,  and  trains  were  delayed  on  all  lines.  The  Union 
Pacific  to  Beatrice  did  not  use  its  own  track  for  three  or  four  days,  and 
the  Burlington   road  to  Tecumseh  was  impassable  for  a  longer  time, 


176  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LTNCOLX. 

AN'itliiii  the  citv  the  tlainagv  to  railroad  jn'operty  was  not  very  severe. 
A  rise  of  a  foot  or  two  more  would  have  proved  very  disastrous. 

The  water  did  not  quite  cover  the  crown  of  the  pavement  at  the 
crossing  at  Seventh  and  N  streets.  The  blocks  on  that  corner  were 
nearlv  all  displaced,  and  the  pavement  had  to  be  repaired  a  little  dis- 
tance north  on  Seventh  and  east  on  N,  Boats  landed  against  the 
bank  on  the  west  side  of  the  northwest  corner  of  the  park,  at  F  and 
Sixth  streets. 

This  was  not  the  highest  that  Salt  creek  has  been  since  Lincoln 
was  founded,  though  it  was  vastly  the  most  damaging  tlood  the  city 
has  known,  owing  to  the  development  of  property  on  the  low  lands. 
In  fact,  big  freshets  have  been  frequent,  and  the  waters  have  piled  up 
in  front  of  Lincoln  in  a  formidable  way  on  several  occasions,  espe- 
cially since  the  stream  was  blocked  by  dams  below  the  city.  There 
was  a  good  deal  of  a  flood  in  1868,  and  a  deluge  in  1869,  when  a 
prominent  editor  of  the  city  went  boating,  fell  in,  and  Nvas  tortured 
with  cramps  for  hours  afterward.  The  torrent  of  1874  was  especially 
memorable,  the  water  being  made  very  high  by  a  gorge  of  brush  and 
drift  below  the  town.  Boats  landed  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  Eighth  and 
O  streets,  and  a  son  of  William  Hyatt  Avas  drowned  on  the  block 
bounded  by  Seventh  and  lOighth  and  O  and  P  streets.  A  man  named 
T.  W.  Taylor  was  also  drowned  near  the  city  during  this  freshet.  But 
Mr.  ]\L  (}.  Bohanan,  who  had  particular  reason  to  observe  the  rela- 
tive rise  of  the  creek  on  account  of  the  location  of  his  slaughter- 
house, is  sure  that  the  flood  in  April,  1887,  following  the  winter  of 
almost  imprecedented  snow  fall,  surpassed  all  other  freshets  before  or 
since  by  a  foot  or  two.  Owing  to  the  accumulations  of  ice,  and  suc- 
ceeding cold  weather,  it  was  the  hardest  deluge  to  contend  with, 
though  it  affected  the  city  but  little,  as  there  was  but  little  settlement 
■and  few  factories  on  the  low  land  at  that  time. 

Salt  creek  has  shown  a  disposition  to  flood  the  flat  land  once  or 
twice  since,  but  there  lias  really  been  no  freshet  of  the  formidable 
rf^haraetcr  of  that  of  the  present  summer  for  several  years  ])ast. 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  177 


CHAPTER  Xiy.     • 

Lincoln  Politically  froji  the  Beginning  to  the  Present— Her  Priti.ic 
Improvements— Paying,  Seweracje,  and  Water-works  — Semi-puhlic 
Works — Her  Fire  Department — The  Police  Force— The  Present 
City  Officers  and  Officers  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

As  has  been  stated  in  an  earlier  ('lia])ter,  the  town  of  liincoln  was 
organized  in  1869. 

In  1870  the  Town  Trustees  elected  were  C.  N.  Baird,  D.  S.  Smith, 
D.  A.  Sherwood,  C.  H.  Gere,  and  H.  J.  Walsh.  C.  li.  Gere  was 
elected  Chairman,  R.  O.  Phillips  was  chosen  Clerk,  and  N.  C.  Brock 
was  continued  as  Treasurer  of  the  board. 

On  March  18,  1871,  the  town  was  organized  as  a  city  of  the  second 
class,  under  a  charter.  The  election  occurred  on  the  third  of  the  fol- 
lowing April,  and  the  officers  then  chosen  were:  W.  F.  Chapin, 
Mayor;  C.  H.  Street  and  R.  E.  Moore,  Police  Judges;  A.  E.  Hast- 
ings, Marshal;  T.  F.  L.  Catlin,  Clerk;  G.  W.  Ballentine,  Treasurer; 
Councilmen  — First  w^ard,  L.  A.  Scoggin  ancl,C.  C.  Burr ;  Second  ward, 
D.  A.  Sherwood  and  J.  M.  Creamer;  Third  Mard,  J.  J.  Gosper  and 
J.  L.  McConnell;  T.  T.  Murphy,  City  Engineer.  Thereafter,  until 
1889,  the  city  officers  elected  were  as  follows: 

2,S';\^>^ — The  city  officers  of  1872  were :  Mayor,  E.  E.  Brown ;  Coun- 
cilmen—First  ward,  J.  R.  Fairbank  (two  years)  and  L.  A.  Scoggin, 
(one  year;)  Second  ward,  William  McLaughlin  (two  years)  and  D.  A. 
Sherwood,  (one  year;)  Third  ward,  G.  G.  Owen  (two  years)  and  .1.  J. 
Gosper,  (one  year;)  Clerk,  Thomas  L.  Catlin;  Treasurer,  William  A. 
Coleman;  Marshal,  John  McManigal;  City  Physician,  J.  O.  Carter; 
Police  Judge,  R.  E.  Moore;  Engineer,  Tom  I.  Atwood. 

1S7J.— Mayor,  Robert  D.  Silvers;  Councilmen— First  ward,  L.  A. 
Scoggin  and  J.  R.  Fairbank;  Second  ward,  T.  P.  Quick  and  William 
McEaughlin;  Third  ward,  N.  S.  Scott  and  S.  G.  Owen;  City  Clerk, 
R,  N.  Vedder,  (resigned  September  2d,  and  E.  P.  Roggen  ai)pointeil 
to  fill  vacancy  ;)  Treasurer,  William  Coleman  ;  Marshal,  Brad  Ringer; 
Enoineer,  Thomas  I.  Atwood  ;  City  Physician,  S.  W.  Robinson  ;  Po- 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

lice  Judge,  Lewis  A.  Grotf,  and  C-.  Green,  Police  Judge  to  fill  vacancy  ; 
Street  Coninjissioner  and  Fire  Warden,  George  B,  Skinner;  and  T. 
P.  Quick,  Cliiefof  the  Fire  Department. 

IS74.. — Mayor,  Samuel  W.  Little ;  Councilraen  — First  ward,  L.  A. 
Sco^gin  and  Jolin  Plato n ;  Second  ward,  William  ^NIcLauuhlin  and  T. 
P.  Quick;  Third  ward,  R.  O.  Phillips  and  N.  8.  Scott;  Clerk,  E.  P. 
Roggen;  Treasurer,  William  A.  Sharrar;  Marshal,  P.  H.  Cooper; 
City  Engineer,  A.  Roberts;  Police  Judge,  J.  H.  Foxworthy;  Street 
Commissioner  and  Fire  Warden,  George  B.  Skinner;  Chief  of  the 
Fire  Department,  T.  P.  C^uick,  and  Gran.  Ensign  Assistant. 

187o. — ]Mayor,  Amasa  Cobb ;  City  Clerk,  R.  W.  Charter ;  Treas- 
urer, B.  F.  Fisher;  Police  Judge,  R.  W.  Taylor;  Marshal,  P.  H. 
Cooper  ;  City  Engineer,  A.  Roberts;  Cemetery  Trustee,  Philetns  Peck  ; 
Councilnien- — First  ward,  James  Led  with,  and  J.  P.  Fairbank  to  fill 
vacancy;  Second  ward,  Fred.  W.  Krone;  Third  ward,  (),  Kingman; 
T.  P.  (^uick.  Chief  of  Fire  Department. 

i<9;'6\— Mayor,  R.  D.  Silver;  City  Clerk,  George  Y.  Kent;  City 
Treasurer,  James  McConnell ;  Marshal,  P.  H.  Coojjcr;  Police  Judge, 
John  McLean  ;  City  Engineer,  J.  P.  Walton;  Cemetery  Trustee,  Israel 
Putnam  ;  Councilmen — First  ward,  John  Monteith  ;  Second  ward,  L. 
Vs' .  Billingsley  ;  Third  ward,  C.  M.  Leighton  and  E.  W.  Morgan  ;  T. 
P.  (^uick.  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department. 

1H77. — Mayor,  H.  W.  Hardy;  Clerk,  R.  C.  Manley;  Treasurer,. 
James  McConnell ;  Police  Judge,  J.  S.  Dales;  Marshal,  Thomas  Carr; 
Engineer,  J.  P.  "Walton  ;  Cemetery  Trustee,  J.  J.  Turner;  Council- 
men — First  ward,  James  Ledwith  ;  Second  ward,  Rufus  Yard  and  J, 
B.  Wright,  (elected  in  September  to  fill  vacancy;)  Third  ward,  J.  K. 
Honeywell;  T.  P.  (^uick,  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department. 

187H. — Mayor,  H.  W.  Hardy;  Clerk,  R.W.Jacobs;  Treasurer^ 
James  McConnell ;  Marshal,  Thomas  Carr;  Police  Judge,  J.  S.  Dales; 
Engineer,  J,  I*.  Walton;  Cemetery  Trustee,  A.  M.  Davis;  Council- 
men — First  ward,  James  H.  Dailey;  Second  ward,  R.  P.  R.  Millar, 
Third  ward,  Austin  Humphrey  ;  Isaac  M.  Raymond,  Chief  of  the  Fire 
Department. 

i,S'7.9.— Mayor,  Seth  P.  Galey ;  Clerk,  M.  Nelson  ;  Treasurer,  D. 
B,  Cropsey;  Police  Judge,  J.  S,  Dales;  Marshal,  I.  L.  layman;  City 
Engineer,.!.  P.  Waltcjn  ;  T.  \\  (^lick,  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department. 
Counriliiicii — First  ward,  W.  C.  (Jriflidi  and  .James  Ledwith ;  Second 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  179 

ward,  R.  P.  R.  Millar  and  John  B.  Wright;  Tliird  ward,  Austin 
Humphrey  and  H.  J.  Walsh. 

1880.— Mayor,  John  B.  Wright ;  Clerk,  R.  C.  Mauley ;  Treasurer, 
D.  B.  Cropsey;  Police  Judge,  J.  S.  Dales;  Chief  of  Police,  I.  L. 
Lyman.  Councilmen — First  ward,  R.  Grimes  and  J.  Ledwith  ;  .Sec- 
ond ward,  J.  L.  Caldwell  and  J.  Frederick  Krone;  Third  ward,  ]I.  J. 
Walsh  and  John  Doolittle;  City  Engineer,  J.  P.  Walton;  Chief  of 
the  Fire  Department,  T.  P.  Quick. 

1881.— John  B.  Wright,  Mayor;  R.  C.  Mauley,  City  Clerk;  A.C- 
Cross,  Treasurer ;  J.  S.  Dales,  Police  Judge;  N.  S.  Scott,  City  Engin- 
eer; Cemetery  Trustee,  L.  J.  Byer,  and  to  till  vacancy,  A.  M.  Davis. 
For  Councilmen — First  ward,  C.  C.  Munson;  Second  ward,  S.  B. 
Linderman ;  Third  ward,  J.  H.  Harley. 

The  total  vote  cast  at  this  election  was  1,400. 

The  question  of  voting  the  Lincoln  City  Street  Railway  Company 
right-of-way  over  north  and  south  streets  from  Seventh  to  Seventeenth, 
and  on  east  and  west  streets  from  A  to  R,  was  carried  in  favor  of  the 
license  by  a  vote  of  841  to  405. 

188.?. — At  the  city  election  of  April  4,  1882,  1,899  votes  were  cast, 
with  the  following  result :  Mayor,  John  Doolittle;  City  Clerk,  R.  C. 
Manley  ;  City  Treasurer,  A.  C.  Cass ;  Police  Judge,  B.  F.  Cobb ;  City 
Engineer,  J.  P.  Walton;  Cemetery  Trustee,  A.  M.  Davis.  Council- 
men — First  ward,  H.  Shaberg;  Second  ward,  Fred  Krone;  Third 
ward,  C.  L.  Baum. 

1883. — At  the  city  election  held  on  April  3, 1883,  1,705  votes  were 
polled.  The  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  following  officers : 
Mayor,  R.  E.  Moore;  City  Clerk,  R.  C.  Manley;  City  Treasurer, 
John  T.  Jones;  Cemetery  Trustee,  Lewis  Gregory;  Councilmen  — 
First  ward,  W.  C.  Lane,  Second  ward,  S.  B.  Linderman  ;  Third  ward, 
Charles  West;  Fourth  ward,  W.  J.  Cooper  long  term,  and  J.  H.  liar- 
ley  short  term. 

1884..— The  city  election  of  1884  was  held  April  1st,  and  1,550 
votes  were  cast.  Mayor^  R.  E.  Moore ;  Clerk,  R.  C.  ]\Ianley,  and 
Treasurer,  John  T.  Jones,  held  over.  The  elected  officers  were :  Po- 
lice Judge,  M.  Montgomery;  Cemetery  Trustee,  H.  J.  AValsh.  Coun- 
cilmen—First  ward,  N.  C.  Brock;  Second  ward,  H.  P.  Lau ;  Third 
ward,  J.  W.  Winger;  Fourth  ward,  J.  R.  AVebster. 

ISSo.— At  the  city  election  held  on  April  7,  1885,  2,-147  votes  were 


180  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

cast.  The  otticers  elected  Avere — Mayor,  C.  C.  Burr;  City  Clerk,  R. 
C.  Maulcv  ;  City  Treasurer,  Jolni  T.  Jones;  Cemetery  Trustee,  A.  M. 
Davis.  Councilmen — First  ward,  James  Dailey ;  Second  ward,  L.  W. 
Billingsley;  Third  ward,  A.  E.  Hargreaves;  Fourth  ward,  W.  J. 
Cooper. 

At  this  election  Jiurr  received  1,115  votes,  Fitzgerald  1,085  votes, 
and  H.  W.  Hardy  247  votes.  The  votes  were  counted  on  the  9tli  of 
April,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  10th  the  Council  met  to  consider  a 
notice  of  contest  by  John  Fitzgerald.  The  attorneys  for  Fitzgerald, 
AVhedon,  Sawyer  &  Snell,  objected  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Council 
to  hear  and  determine  the  contest.  On  motion  of  Billingsley  and 
Webster,  the  objection  was  sustained,  and  the  Mayor  and  Clerk  were 
ordered  to  issue  certificates  to  candidates  having  a  majority  on  the 
face  of  the  returns.  Attorney  Whedon  gave  notice  that  he  would 
a])]»ly  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  perpetual  injunction  to  restrain 
those  officers  from  issuing  the  certificate;  but  the  matter  was  dr()pj)ed 
M'ithout  further  proceedings. 

J886'. — The  city  election  of  1880  was  held  on  April  (jth.  Police 
Judge,  Cemetery  Trustee,  and  Councilmen,  were  elected,  as  follows :  Po- 
lice Judge,  A.  F.  Parsons ;  [removed  from  office  and  place  filled  by 
appointment  of  H.  J.  Whitmore;]  Cemetery  Trustee,  Lewis  Gregory. 
Councilmen — First  ward,  N.  C.  Brock;  Second  ward,  John  Fraas; 
Third  ward,  H.  H.  Dean;  Fourth  ward,  R.  B.  Graham.  The  total 
vote  cast  was  2,668. 

1887. — The  city  election  of  1887  took  place  on  April  5th,  and 
'>,i>19  votes  were  cast.  E.  P.  Roggen  was  the  regular  Rei)ublican 
nominee;  A.  J.  Sawyer,  the  independent  reform  movement  nominee, 
and  A.  J.  Cropsey,  the  straight-out  Prohibition  nominee.  This  elec- 
tion Mas  carried  on  without  regard  to  party  affiliation.  Roggen  re- 
ceived 1,478  votes;  Sawyer,  2,013  votes,  and  Cropsey,  428  votes. 
The  election  resulted  as  follows:  Mayor,  A.  J.  Sawyer;  Clerk,  R.  C. 
]Manley  ;  Treasurer,  J.  T.  Jones;  Cemetery  Trustee,  L.  J.  Byer. 
Councilmen — First  ward,  J.  H.  Dailey;  Second  ward,  L.  W.  Bil- 
lingsley; Third  ward,  J.  M.  Burks;  Fourth  ward,  W.  J.  Cooper; 
Fifth  ward,  long  term.  Gran.  Ensign  ;  short  term,  .1.  Z.  Briscoe;  Sixth 
ward,  long  term,  (tw(j  years,)  L.  C.  Pace;  short  term,  (one  year,)  Fred. 
A.  llovey.  The  question  of  voting  right-of-way  on  the  streets  to  the 
Jiapid  Transit  Street  Railway  Company  was  settled  at  this  election  in 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  181 

favor  of  the  license  by  a  vote  of  2,571  to  43.  C.  .\.  Atkinson  was 
appointed  City  Attorney,  and  P.  H.  Cooper  Chief  of  Police,  or  Mar- 
shal. 

18S8. — The  city  election  of  1888  was  held  on  April  ;5d,  and  the 
total  vote  was  4,063.  The  following  officers  were  elected:  Police 
Jndge,  W.  J.  Houston;  Cemetery  Trustee,  A.  M.  Davis.  Council- 
men — First  ward,  A.  Halter;  Second  ward,  John  Fraas;  Third  ward, 
H.  H.  Dean;  Fourth  ward,  R.  B.  Graham;  Fifth  ward,  Louie  ^Meyer; 
Sixth  w\ard,  H.  M.  Rice.  G.  M.  Lambertson  Avas  appointed  Citv 
Attorney, 

1889.— At  the  city  election  of  April,  1889,  R.  B.  Graham  was 
elected  Mayor;  D.  C.  Van  Duyn,  Clerk;  FIraer  B.  Stephenson, 
Treasurer;  O.  N.  Gardner,  City  Engineer;  I.  L.  Lyman,  AVater 
Commissioner. 

The  Legislature  of  1889  gave  the  city  a  new  charter,  which  pro- 
vided for  an  Excise  Board,  designed  to  have  exclusive  control  of  the 
liquor  licenses  of  the  city,  instead  of  the  Council,  as  theretofore.  Tiie 
first  board,  elected  in  April  at  the  city  election,  were  John  Doolittle 
and  C.  J.  Daubach.  The  Mayor  is  an  ex-ojficio  member  of  the  board, 
so  that  Mayor  Graham  is  the  third  member  of  the  first  board.  The 
Councilmen  chosen  at  this  election  were  :  First  ward,  P.  Hayden  ;  Sec- 
ond ward,  J.  C.  Saulsbury  ;  Third  ward, William  McLaughlin;  Fourth 
ward,  F.  A.  Boehmer  and  W.  S.  Hamilton ;  Fifth  ward,  H.  M.  Bush- 
nell ;  Sixth  ward,  L.  C.  Pace. 

Having  become  a  candidate  for  Mayor,  Mr.  R.  B.  Graham  resigned 
his  chair  in  the  Council  before  the  election.  Mr.  W.  J.  Cooper  was  nom- 
inated for  the  place,  and  elected.  But  it  afterward  seemed  that  there 
was  some  technical  invalidity  in  his  election,  and  it  was  thought  best 
to  go  through  the  formality  of  an  election  again.  So  the  Mayor  called 
a  special  election ;  and,  there  seeming  to  be  no  opposition  to  Mr. 
Cooper,  less  than  half  the  vote  in  the  ward  was  polled.  But  during 
the  dav  some  schemers  quietly  put  W.  S.  Hamilton  in  the  field  against 
Cooper,  and  to  the  surprise  of  the  city  he  was  elected.  His  friends 
had  completely  surprised  and  taken  the  camp  of  the  Cooper  people. 
This  and  other  causes  led  up  to  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
Councilmen,  by  the  Council,  to  investigate  allegations  of  corruption 
on  the  part  of  the  Council  of  1887  and  1888.  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  W.  S.  Hamilton,  H.  M.  Bushnell,  H.  H.  Dean,  L.  C.  Pace, 


182  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    MXCOLN. 

and  William  McLimuhlin.  Aftci-  intcnnittont  .sittings  for  several 
weeks  in  Mav  and  Juno,  during  which  uunierous  witnesses  Avere  ex- 
amined, it  appeared  bv  the  report  of  the  committee  that  nothing  of 
much  consequence  could  be  charged  against  any  one.  The  city  bonds 
had  been  tairly  well  handled,  the  storm-water  sewers  had  been  well 
constructed,  and  the  charges  against  Councilmeii  of  having  been  sub- 
sidized were  not  sustained.  It  appeared  that  W.  J.  Cooper  had  sold 
material  to  the  city  at  high  prices,  while  Couucilnuui,  undei-  the  name 
of  one  of  his  men  ;  and  this  was  about  all  that  seemed  worthy  of  criti- 
cism. The  atmosphere  now  cleared  up,  and  no  more  was  heard  about 
the  matter. 

The  entire  list  of  city  officers,  including  the  officers  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  for  1889,  are  as  follows: 

CITY  ORGANIZATION. 

Hon.  E,.  B.  Graham,  Mayor. 

CoiDicifmen. — First  ward,  A.  Halter,  ]*,  Hayden  ;  Second  ward,  John 
Fraas,  J.  C.  Saulsbury  ;  Third  ward,  PI.  PI.  Dean  President,  W\\\\a.m 
McLaughlin;  P^ourth  ward,  V.  A.  Boehmer,  W.  S.  Hamilton;  P^ifth 
ward;  L.  Meyer,  H.  M.  Bushuell;  Sixth  ward,  H.  M.  Rice,  L.  C. 
Pace. 

Other  City  Officers.— D.  C.  Van  P)uyn,  City  Clerk ;  l\.  H.  Town- 
ley,  Deputy ;  E.  B.  Stephenson,  Treasurer ;  R.  C.  Hazlett,  Deputy ;  G. 
M.  Lambertson,  City  Attorney  ;  W.  J.  Houston,  Police  Judge;  O.  N* 
Gardner,  City  Civil  Engineer;  I.  L.  Lyman,  Water  Commissioner; 
L.  J.  Byers,  Street  Commissioner;  W.  W.  Carder,  Chief  Police;  W. 
H.  Newbury,  Chief  P'ire  Department;  V.  H.  Dyer,  Sewer  Inspector; 
Joseph  McGraM',  Gas  Inspector;  Wm.  Rhode,  I)ispector  Live  Stock; 
A.  H.  Bartram,  Health  Officer. 

Board  Puhl'tc  WorkH. — A.  Humphrey,  Chairman;  R.  C.  Manley, 
W.  J.  ^Lirshall. 

I'J.rci.sc  Hoard. — R.  B.  Graham,  President ;  D.  C.  Van  Duyn,  Clerk  ; 
John  Doolittlc,  (.'.  J.  Daubach. 

HOARD  OF  TRADE. 
President,  R.  IP  Oakley;  Secretary,  C.  A.  Atkin.son. 
Directors.— \{.  H.  Oakley,  President;  T.  P.  Kennard,  T.  W.  Low- 
rey,  J.  d.  Iniholl".  |-:ii  I'lunimer,  Joseph  Boehmer,  C.  J.  Eru.st,  A.  E. 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  183 

Hargreaves,  Mason  Gregg,  M.  L.  Tre.ster,  A.  H.  Weir,  C.  W.  Moslier, 
O.  T.  Brown. 

Committees. — A.  H.Weir,  Cliairnuui  Kailroad^  ;  Jacob  ItoeUe,  ( "liair- 
man  Live  Stock;  J.  J.  Imhoff,  Chairman  Miscellaneous;  C.  W.  Mo- 
sher,  Chairman  Rules;  M.  L.  Trester,  Chairman  Membel'ship ;  Joseph 
Boehmer,  Chairman  Finance;  C.  J.  J^rnst,  Chairman  Executive;  T 
W.  Lowrey,  Chairman  Transportation;  T.  P.  Kennard,  Chairman 
Manufactories;  Eli  Plummer,  Chairman  Reception;  Mason  Gregg, 
Chairman  Market  Reports;  H.  D.  Hathaway,  Chairman  Papers  and 
Periodicals;  C.T.Brown,  Chairman  Real  Estate;  A.  E.  Hargrcavcs, 
Chairman  Arbitration;  C.  A.  Atkinson,  Chairman  Advertising. 

FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 

The  Fire  Department  has  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  city, 
and  to-dav  is  recognized  bv  the  Board  of  UnderMriters  to  be  one  of 
the  best  organized,  disciplined,  and  equipped,  departments  in  the 
West ;  in  fact,  second  to  none.  The  first  volunteer  fire  company  was 
organized  in  1875,  and  was  named  the  Phoenix  Hook  and  Ladder 
Company.  In  1872  the  growth  of  the  city  demanded  better  protec- 
tion, and  a  Silsby  steam  fire  engine  was  purchased,  and  named  The  W. 
F.  Chapin,  the  Hon.  W.  F.  Chapin  being  the  Mayor  of  the  city  in 
that  year.  Two  hose  carts,  and  1,000  feet  of  rubber  hose,  were  i)ur- 
chased  at  the  same  time,  and  a  company  called  theChajMu  Hose  Com- 
panv  was  organized,  w^ith  a  roster  of  fifty  men.  In  1880  it  was  found 
necessary  to  increase  the  strength  of  the  department,  and  a  second  size 
Silsby  steamer  was  purchased  and  added  to  the  equipment.  No  changes 
were  made  in  the  department  until  1882,  when  the  Chapin  Hose  Com- 
pany was  disbanded,  (the  Hook  and  Ladder  Company  having  dis- 
banded in  1879.)  Two  new  hose  companies  were  organized,  known 
as  the  Merchants' Hose  Company  No.  1,  and  the  Fitzgerald  Mose 
Company  No.  2.  The  '^Fitzgeralds"  have  a  national  reputation, 
having  won  the  Nebraska  State  championship  belt  and  cart  in  the 
years  1884  and  1885,  and  the  w^orld's  championship  at  the  city  of 
New  Orleans  in  1886.  On  January  4,  1886,  the  department  was  re- 
organized, Hon.  C.  C.  Burr,  Mayor,  by  Fire  Warden  Newbury,  and 
five  full-paid  men  appointed  and  a  two-horse,  four-wheel  hose  carriage 
purchased  and  put  in  service.  In  January,  1887,  the  Merchants'  and 
Fitzgerald  Hose  Companies  were  disbanded,  thus  ending  the  life  and 


184  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

use't'ul  caiver  of  tlio  volunteer  tiro  departinent  of  Lincoln,  which  had 
performed  faithful  and  efficient  service  for  twelve  years.  But  the 
rapid  growth  and  increasing  area  of  the  city  demanded  a  change,  and 
a  metropolitan  system,  with  trained  and  experienced  men,  constantly 
on  dutv,  was  placed  in  service.  In  the  month  of  January,  1887,  Hon. 
A.  J.  Sawyer  Mayor,  the  department  was  reorganized  by  Chief  W.  H. 
Xewburv  and  placed  on  a  solid  and  substantial  basis.  The  fire  de})art- 
ment  at  present  consists  of  thirty-five  full-paid  men,  the  organization 
being  as  follows  :  one  Chief  of  Fire  Department,  one  Assistant  Chief, 
three  Captains,  two  engineers  of  steamers,  and  twenty-eight  men.  Sal- 
aries: Chief,  8140.00  per  month;  Captains,  $75.00  per  month  ;  engin- 
eers of  steamers,  §75.00  per  month  ;  drivers,  pipemen,  linemen,  $70.00 
per  month.  Apparatus  in  service:  Two  four-wheel  two-horse  hose 
carts,  one  hose  wagon,  two  four-wheel  two-horse  chemical  engines, 
hook  and  ladder  truck,  one  aerial  hook  and  ladder  truck,  one  chief's 
buggy,  one  supply  wagon,  nineteen  horses.  Annual  expense  of  main- 
taining department,  present  equipment,  $35,000.00. 

The  engine  houses  are  large  double  houses,  fitted  up  with  all  the 
modern  and  best  improved  electrical  appliances,  and  will  contain  four 
pieces  of  apparatus  each.  Fire  department  head(|uarters — Engine 
house  Xo.  1  is  situated  at  the  corner  of  Tenth  and  Q  streets.  Engine 
house  Xo.  2,  corner  of  O  and  Twenty-third  streets,  and  engine  house 
Xo.  4,  at  F  street,  between  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  streets. 

The  first  chief  of  the  volunteer  department  was  the  Hon.  Seth  Lin- 
dermai).  His  successor  was  T.  P.  Quick  esq.,  who  held  the  position 
for  about  ten  years.  The  Hon.  X.  C.  Abbott,  Hon.  I.  M.  Raymond, 
Hon.  (iran  Ensign,  and  Hon.  I.  L.  Lyman,  gentlemen  who  have 
represented  the  State,  county,  and  city,  in  different  positions  of  trust 
and  honor,  were  at  different  times  chief  of  the  volunteer  organization. 
The  present  chief,  Wm.  H.  Newbury,  was  appointed  Fire  AVarden  of 
the  city  in  July,  1885;  appointed  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department  in 
April,  1887.  Through  his  untiring  efforts  the  city  of  Lincoln  has 
to-day  a  fire  department  of  which  it  is  justly  proud.  No  city  in  the 
country  of  the  same  size  has  had  so  small  a  percentage  of  loss  from 
fire  as  Lincoln  has  had  since  the  organization  of  the  paid  department. 

The  roster  of  the  the  Fire  Department,  as  at  present  constituted,  is 
as  follows: 

Chief — W.  II.  Newbury.    Captains  —  J.  Morrow  of  company  No. 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  185 

1,  G.  H.  Priest  of  company  No.  2.  Drivers — F.  Maden,  P.  Kuv- 
kendall,  and  R.  Malone.  Engineer — J.  Heberling.  Stoker — Frank 
Strattan.  Firemen— H.  Stratton,  C.  AV.  Clyter,  B.  H.  Floyd,  J.  C. 
MeCune,  A.  B.  Hosman,  G.  R.  Slat,  F.  G.  Fawcett,  F.  McMillan,  J. 

Fitzgerald,  and  S.  S.  Smith. 

One  of  the  most  snccessfnl  institutions  of  the  city  is  the  Red  Rib- 
bon Club, -which  Avas  organized  by  John  B.  Finch  in  Xovember,  1877, 
at  a  place  on  the  east  side  of  Tenth  street,  about  four  doors  north  of 
Tenth  and  N  streets.  For  years  it  held  its  meetings  in  "Red  Ribbon 
Hall,"  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Twelfth  and  M  streets.  Every  Sun- 
day afternoon  in  the  year  Mr.  George  B,  Skinner,  who  has  been  pres- 
ident, manager,  and  inspiration  to  the  organization  from  its  beginning, 
would  be  found  on  the  platform  directing  the  meeting.  The  pro- 
grammes consisted  of  singing  from  "  Gospel  Hymns,"  or  similar  mu- 
sical books,  and  voluntary  addresses  by  persons  in  the  audience,  though 
Mr.  Skinner  would  often  call  upon  men  or  women  whom  he  thought 
could  make  short,  useful  addresses.  Hundreds  of  drinking  men  have 
been  induced  to  sign  the  pledge  by  this  club,  and  by  it  assisted  to 
keep  the  good  resolution.  The  club  now  meets  at  a  large  assembly 
room  on  T  street,  between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  street.  The  roll  of 
the  organization  now  numbers  fully  17,000  persons,  including  many 
of  the  leading  men  and  women  of  the  city  and  State.  For  twelve 
years  it  has  lived  and  expanded,  and  is  now,  perhaps,  the  largest, 
oldest,  and  most  successful,  association  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States. 
For  all  this  growth  and  power  it  is  substantially  indebted  to  George 
B.  Skinner. 

Lincoln  has  hotel  accommodations  for  fully  2,000  persons.  A 
sketch  of  the  earliest  hotel  history  has  already  been  given  in  another 
chapter,  where  reference  is  made  to  the  "  Pioneer,"  the  "  Cadman,"  and 
the  "Atwood." 

In  1869 Wilson  constructed  a  store  foundation  on  the  south- 
west corner  of  P  and  Eleventh  streets.  This  lot  and  one  other  to  the 
southward,  were  sold  to  James  Griffith,  who  still  resides  in  this  county, 
who  disposed  of  them  to  Cropsey  &  England.  That  firm  passed  the 
propertv  over  to  Dr.  Scott,  who  completed  the  building  on  the  foun- 
dation already  there,  and  opened  a  drug  store  in  it  about  1869. 
In  1870  he  converted  the  building  into  a  hotel,  which  was  managed 
13 


]8(5  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

bv  John  Douglas,  aiul  it  was  called  the  "Douglas  House."  Mr- 
Douglas  conducted  it  until  November,  1873,  when  Mr.  J.  J.  Imhoif 
bought  it,  called  it  the  "Commercial  Hotel,"  and  at  once  greatly  en- 
laroed  it.  Its  })atronage  increased  constantly  under  his  control,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  enlarge  it  to  its  present  dimensions  of  150xl08|^ 
feet,  and  to  three  stories  in  height,  so  as  to  possess  a  capacity  to  accom- 
modate easily  300  guests.  It  soon  became  the  political  headquarters 
(if  the  State  and  the  principal  rendezvous  of  politicians,  associations, 
and  ])ublic  affairs  generally.  INIr.  ImhoflF  owned  the  hotel  until  the 
oj)oning  of  1886,  when  Mr.  C.  W.  Kitchen  bought  it,  changed  its 
name  to  "The  Capital  Hotel,"  and  managed  it  until  May  1st,  1887. 
Then  Hon.  Edward  P.  Roggen  became  its  landlord,  Mr.  W.  H.  B. 
Stout  having  bought  it,  and  so  continued  until  March,  1889,  when 
Mr.  G.  F.  Macdonald,  formerly  of  the  Millard  Hotel  in  Omaha, 
bought  an  interest  with  Mr.  Roggen,  and  since  that  date  the  house 
has  been  managed  by  Roggen  &  ]\Iacdonald.  It  still  continues  to  be 
the  political  hub  of  the  State,  being  Republican  State  headquarters  an- 
nually. It  possesses  all  modern  conveniences  and  improvements  and 
is  the  best  knoAvn  hotel  in  Nebraska.  Mr.  Richard  W.  Johnson, 
who  was  chief  clerk  with  Mr.  Imhoif,  occupied  the  same  position  with 
!Mr.  Kitchen,  and  has  been  the  chief  clerk  with  Mr.  Roggen  and 
Messrs.  Roggen  &  Macdonald.  He  is  one  of  the  worthiest  and  best 
hotel  men  in  Nebraska,  and  one  of  the  best  known. 

Next  in  order  of  origin  is  Opelt's  Hotel,  at  Ninth  and  (^  streets, 
which  was  built  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Atwood,  who  completed  it  in  1880. 
It  was  then  named  the  "Arlington"  house.  It  was  the  largest  hotel 
in  Nebraska  at  that  date,  and  yet  ranks  among  the  most  spacious  and 
excellent  hostelries  in  the  State.  Mr.  Joseph  Opelt,  its  present  laud- 
lord,  became  its  first  landlord  and  conducted  it  until  1881,  when  it 
was  ])urchased  by  J.  S.  JNIcIntire,  who  managed  it  for  a  short  time, 
and  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  Capt.  AVm.  Ensey,  who  controlled  it 
about  three  years.  It  then  was  without  a  landlord  for  about  three 
months,  when  ^Iv.  Joseph  Opelt,  on  March  15,  1880,  again  became 
its  lessee  and  landlord,  and  so  continues  to  the  present  time.  He  has 
always  had  a  large  and  profitable  business.  The  house  is  fitted  up 
with  modern  iinjirovcments  and  has  an  easy  capacity  of  about  250 
gue.-ts.  Mr.  Stanley  C,  A\'icks  is  the  efficient  chief  clerk  of  this  ex- 
(•ellent  hotel.  It  is  now  owned  by  AV.  H.  Atwood,  of  Kinderhook, 
\.  A'.,  the  son  of  tlic  liiiilder. 


188  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  next  larjxe  liotel  built  in  Lincoln  was  the  AVindsor,  at  first 
<'alle(l  the ''  Goriiani  House,"  located  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Eleventh 
ami  <i  streets.  This  hotelwas  erected  by  Mr.  T.  F.  Barnes,  in  1884, 
and  was  opened  January  5,  1885,  by  Gorham  cV:  Brown,  who  man- 
aged it  about  a  year,  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  Glass  S:  Montrose, 
who  also  conducted  it  al)out  a  year.  ^Plieu  it  came  into  the  control 
of  its  presentable  managers,  Messrs.  E.  K.  Criley  tV:  Go.,  ^[r.  E.  K. 
Griley  being  in  immediate  charge.  In  his  hands  it  has  been  much 
improved,  and  its  business  and  capacity  extended.  The  same  firm 
controls  the  "Paddock  House"  at  Beatrice,  and  other  noted  hotels  in 
the  AVest.  The  Windsor  is  equipped  with  the  most  improved  hotel 
facilities  and  has  a  capacity  of  over  200  guests.  It  is  still  owned  by 
Mr.  T.  F.  Barnes.  Mr.  S.  J.  Whitmore  is  the  chief  clerk  of  the 
Windsor,  and  is  an  excellent  and  capable  man  in  the  position. 
y  The  "Lindell  liotel"  is  an  excellent  hostelry,  located  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Thirteenth  and  M  streets.  This  is  a  pleasant,  quiet, 
home-like  place,  new  and  tidy,  and  managed  by  Dr.  A.  L.  Hoover  and 
his  son,  Mr.  8.  G.  Hoover,  under  the  firm  title  of  Hoover  &  Son.  It 
is  a  favorite  resort  for  people  who  wish  excellent  accommodations  away 
from  the  noise  and  disturbance  of  the  business  part  of  the  city.  The 
site  of  the  Lindell  has  been  a  hotel  location  for  twenty  years.  In 
1869  J.  N.  Townley  opened  a  boarding-house  there,  which  was  man- 
aged by  John  Douglas  for  a  short  time  before  he  took  charge  of  the 
''Douglas  House,"  at  Eleventh  and  P  streets.  The  property  passed 
through  various  vicissitudes,  and  finally  came  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Hoover,  in  1885,  who  removed  the  old  frame  to  one  side  for  a  kitchen 
and  erected  a  brick  structure  in  1886,  which  the  growing  business  of 
the  house  required  to  be  enlarged  in  1888.  It  has  a  capacity  of  over 
100  guests,  and  is  furnished  with  the  leading  hotel  conveniences.  It 
discards  a  bar. 

The  "Tremont  Hotel,"  at  the  southwest  corner  of  P  and  Eighth 
streets,  is  an  excellent  public  house,  possessed  of  steam  heating,  elec- 
tric light,  and  other  facilities  of  that  kind,  and  its  rates  are  very  low 
for  the  accommodations  it  offers.  It  is  conducted  by  Mr.  R.  W. 
Gopeland,  and  can  accommodate  about  100  guests. 

The  "8t.  Charles  Hotel,"  on  the  south  side  of  ()  street,  between 
Seventli  and  Eighth,  is  a  well-known  hostelry  of  the  city,  long  con- 
ducted by  Mrs.  Kate  Martin,  who  still  owns  it.     Mr.  Jacob  Rocke 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

is  now  the  laiullord  and  lessee.  It  enjoys  a  good  trade,  and  can  ac- 
commodate loO  guests.  It  is  managed  by  Mr.  Chris.  Rocke,  brother 
of  Jacob  Rocke,  the  County  Treasurer. 

The  "Transit,"  on  Twellth  between  ()  and  P,  A\'right  &  Marcy, 
proprietors,  has  accommodations  for  fifty  guests. 

The  "  Washington  House,"  on  the  southeast  corner  of  M  and  Ninth, 
and  the  "  Peoria  House,"  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Q  and  Ninth, 
are  frame  hotels,  of  smaller  capacity,  with  rates  at  $1.00  per  day.  The 
"Ideal  Hotel,'  on  the  west  side  of  Fourteenth  street,  between  N  and 
O,  is  conducted  by  AV.  C.  Trott  as  a  hotel  and  select  boarding-house, 
and  has  a  capacity  of  about  100  guests.  There  are  a  number  of  smaller 
public  houses  in  the  city,  so  that  I^incoln  can  comfortably  entertain  a 
large  nundjcr  of  persons  of  all  tastes  as  to  accommodations  and  price. 

The  regular  police  force  of  Lincoln  consists  of  but  seventeen  men, 
or  one  to  about  each  3,000  inhabitants.  Yet  few  cities  in  the  United 
States  are  better  policed,  owing  to  the  high  grade  of  the  citizenship  in 
the  city  as  well  as  to  the  excellent  class  of  men  on  the  force  and  the 
effective  discipline  maintained.  The  criminal  record  of  Lincoln  ranks 
with  the  minimum  records  of  the  very  best  governed  cities  of  e([ual 
population  in  the  Avorld.  The  excellence  of  the  police  discipline  was 
largely  effected  under  the  administration  of  Mayor  A.  J.  SaM-yer,  by 
Marshal  P.  H.  Cooper,  and  Captain  W.  T.  B.  Ireland,  both  being  of- 
ficials of  long  experience,  the  latter  being  especially  efficient  in  the 
administrative  details  of  the  department.  Officers  A.  L.  Pound,  C. 
M.  Green,  and  J.  K.  Post,  were  also  men  of  experience  and  fine  record 
on  the  old  force,  and  Officers  Splain  and  Kinney  also  deserve  praise 
as  guardians  of  the  city. 

In  June,  1889,  the  force  was  reorganized  by  Marshal  AY.  W.  Car- 
dei',  who  came  into  office  at  that  time.  Marshal  Carder  has  already 
added  a  number  of  features  of  excellence  to  the  department,  and  the 
force  is  in  a  most  effective  condition  for  the  duties  belonging  to  it.  It 
nf)W  consists  of  nine  night  men  and  eight  day  men,  including  the 
Marshal.  The  roster  of  the  force  is  as  follows:  Marshal — AV.  AY. 
(.'arder.  Night  Captain  —  C.  M.  Creen.  Sergeant — F.  A.  Miller. 
Officers  —  (icorge  F.  Sipe,  James  Malone,  A.  L.  Pound,  J.  K.  Post, 
\Y.T.  B.  IrelaiKl,  M.  V.  AhAYilliams,  AYilliani  Splain,  Joseph  N.  Sny- 
•  Icr,  W.  II.   i'alincr,  Thomas  CiiiiKihan,  jjoiiis  C.  Otto,  .J.  E.  Kinney, 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY. 


191 


John  Keane.  Special  — W.  S.  Crick.  General  Police  Officers  — Health 
Commissioner,  A.  M.  Bartram ;  ISIeat  and  Live  Stock  Inspector,  W. 
C.  Rhode;  Driver  of  the  Patrol  Wagon,  John  H.  Simpson. 

Hon.  Robert  B.  Graham,  chief  executive  of  the  city  of  Lincoln,  is 
one  of  the  best  known  and  most  highly  respected  citizens  of  Lancaster 
county,  a  man  who  has  done  much  to  advance  the  material  interests 
of  both  city  and  county.     That  he  is  of  Scotch  parentage  can  readily 


HON.  ROBT.  B.  GRAHAM,  MAYOR. 

be  told  at  a  glance,  his  sturdy,  well  knit  frame  and  kindly  face  pro- 
claiming the  nationality  of  his  birth.  Mr,  Graham  Avas  born  in  New 
York  City  on  the  17th  of  May,  1842.  His  early  youth  only  was 
passed  in  that  city,  his  parents  removing  to  St.  Louis  when  he  was 
only  five  years  of  age.  Here  his  youth  and  early  manhood  were 
passed  and  here  he  married.  The  early  education  of  Mr.  Graham 
was  obtained  at  the  public  schools  of  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  in  al- 
most constant  attendance  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  In  1859, 
when  in  his  seventeenth  year,  the  young  man  entered  the  Bapti.'^t  Col- 
lege at  Burlington,  la.,  and  pur.sued  his  studies  there  uninterrupted 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

ibr  two  vears.  But  at  that  time  the  same  circumstances  that  spoiled 
tlie  colleiic  Wi'e  of  so  many  young  men  of  the  land,  that  changed  the 
Avhole  course  of  life  for  so  many  hundreds  of  the  loyal  men  of  the 
North,  intervened  to  cut  short  his  college  years;  for  although  under 
age,  he  enlisted  in  the  sixty -seventh  Illinois  infantry  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  and  was  soon  sent  to  the  front.  His  army  experience  only 
lasted  for  eighteen  months,  he  being  discharged  at  the  end  of  that 
time  on  account  of  disability.  After  his  discharge  he  returned  to  St. 
Louis,  where  he  lay  sick  for  some  time.  AVhen  he  recovered  sufficientl}^ 
to  be  able  to  work,  he  entered  the  steam  cracker  factory  of  Thomas 
Miller,  as  bookkeeper,  and  after  a  year  was  admitted  to  partnership, 
the  firm  then  being  Thomas  Miller  &  Co.  The  firm  then  took  a 
government  contract  for  furnishing  hard  tack,  but  in  1863  the  factory 
burned  out,  and  was  never  rebuilt.  From  that  time  until  1867  Mr. 
Graham  was  engaged  with  the  firm  of  Tossig,  Livingston  &  Co., 
traveling  through  the  South  and  Southwest  buying  wool,  etc. 

On  the  12th  of  IMarcli,  1868,  Mr.  Graham  was  married  to  Miss 
]\rarv  E.  Hilton,  of  St.  Louis,  soon  after  which  he  moved  to  Glen- 
wood,  la.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  milling  business,  buying  an  inter- 
est in  a  steam  flouring  mill  at  that  place.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he 
sold  his  interest  in  this  mill  and  turned  his  face  again  w^estward,  lo- 
cating in  the  spring  of  1869  in  Lancaster  county,  in  the  northwest- 
ern part,  in  what  is  now  Mill  precinct.  Mr.  Graham's  coming  to 
Lancaster  county  w'as  upon  the  suggestion  of  George  Harris,  the 
original  B.  &  M.  land  commissioner,  well  known  to  many  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  early  days.  From  the  spring  of  1869  ]\Ir.  Graham 
has  been  a  continuous  resident  of  the  county,  and  has,  during  that  time, 
been  connected  closely  w'itli  its  growth  and  development.  In  1870 
^Fr.  Graham  and  his  brother  built  a  flouring  mill  in  Mill  precinct, 
the  third  mill  built  in  the  county,  which  he  operated  for  a  number  of 
years. 

In  1880  the  people  of  the  county  concluded  that  Mr.  Graham's 
sphere  of  usefulness  could  be  profitably  enlarged,  and  hence  he  w'as 
elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, that  being  the  sixteenth  session.  The  result  was  very  satisfactory 
to  his  constituents,  as  he  displayed  much  ability  in  dealing  with  ques- 
tions of  legislation.  As  a  legislator  he  was  careful,  watchful,  and  pru- 
dent, tiikiiin  bi(j:i(l  and  conservative  views  of  all  (juestions  requiring 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  193 

liis  attention  and  decision.  In  1881  Mr.  Graham  was  elected  County 
Treasurer,  being  reelected  in  1883.  As  county  treasurer  his  duties 
required  his  presence  in  Lincoln,  and  hence  his  residence  here  dates 
from  his  first  election  to  that  office.  Mr.  Graham  showed  great 
financial  ability  in  dealing  with  the  money  matters  of  the  county,  and 
is  entitled  to  great  credit  for  his  work  during  his  two  terms.  By 
bringing  to  his  duties  as  treasurer  the  same  care,  prudence  and  thor- 
ough business  methods  that  had  made  his  private  business  a  success, 
he  succeeded  in  so  improving  the  finances  of  the  county  that  all  war- 
rants or  other  evidences  of  indebtedness,  except  bridge  warrants,  were 
paid  in  cash,  something  before  unknown.  This  result  he  accom- 
plished by  a  close  and  careful  collection  of  taxes,  and  a  carefully  ar- 
ranged system  of  accounts.  The  system  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Graham 
has  been  followed  by  Mr.  Roche,  the  present  Treasurer,  so  well  that 
all  warrants,  including  bridge,  are  now  paid  on  presentation. 

In  1886  Mr.  Graham  was  elected  a  member  of  the  City  Council 
from  the  Fourth  Ward,  and  was  reelected  in  1888.  The  duties  of 
this  office  he  discharged  most  satisfactorily  to  the  people  until  he  re- 
signed, in  the  spring  of  1889,  to  take  the  office  of  Mayor,  to  which  he 
had  been  elected  on  April  13, 1889.  No  man,  as  member  of  the  City 
Council,  has  done  more  hard  work  for  th(!  good  of  the  city — work 
that  was  always  well  and  honestly  done.  And  his  three  years'  ex- 
perince  in  that  body  has  enabled  him  so  far  to  avoid  many  of  the 
mistakes  of  his  predecessors.  As  chief  executive  of  the  city,  he  is  en- 
ergetic, yet  conservative,  mindful  of  all  interests  and  classes.  He  is 
particularly  safe  and  able  in  guarding  the  reciprocal  relations  and 
welfare  of  the  business  and  working  people,  to  the  end  that  every- 
thing shall  work  together  for  the  general  present  prosperity  and  the 
continued  development  of  the  city.  Mr.  Graham  and  family  belong 
to  the  most  respected  social  circles  of  the  city. 

Hon.  Elmer  B.  Stephenson,  Treasurer  for  the  City  of  Lincoln,  holds 
one  of  the  most  responsible  offices  in  the  city  government.  As  a  rep- 
resentative young  man,  citizen,  and  official,  a  short  biographical  sketch 
of  his  life  has  a  very  appropriate  place  in  this  volume. 

His  father,  John  M.  Stephenson  sr.,  Avas  born  in  Kentucky,  on  a 
plantation,  his  father  being  the  owner  of  slaves.  While  yet  a  young 
aiian  the  father  emigrated  to  Southern  Illinois,  and  became  a  pioneer 


194 


HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 


farmer  near  Mount  A'ernon.  When  the  war  came  on  he  enlisted  iit 
the  Seventh  Illinois  Cavalry,  though  a  positive  Democrat  in  politics. 
His  son,  John  Stephenson  jr.,  joined  the  same  company,  though  a 
mere  stripling,  and  both  served  during  tlie  great  conflict  with  honor 
to  themselves.  John  Stephenson  jr.  was  daring  to  the  point  of  auda- 
city, and  on  one  occasion  while  on  a  foraging  expedition,  he  captured 
three  rebel  soldiers  single  handed,  although  his  gun  was  so  out  of  repair 
as  to  be  useless.    Later  on  he  was  himself  seized  while  out  foraging,  and 


HON.  E.  B.  STEPHENSON. 

lay  in  Libby  prison  until  reduced  to  a  mere  skeleton  from  disease  and 
starvation.  He  finally  escaped  through  a  tunnel,  and  reached  the- 
Union  lines,  almost  dead  with  sickness  and  exhaustion.  The  father 
of  the  Treasurer  was  a  friend  and  admirer  of  Jolm  A.  Logan,  and  was 
acquainted  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  practiced  law  before  the  war 
in  Mr.  Stephenson's  county. 

liefore  marriage  the  mother  of  the  Treasurer  was  a  Miss  Esther 
Mclcher.  She  was  born  in  Maine,  and  her  mother  was  a  cousin  of  S^ 
F.  15.  Morse,  the  great  electrician.     When  young  she  removed  with  her 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  195 

parents  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Illinois,  and  there  grew  np  from  childhood 
with  John  M.  Stephenson  sr.  In  her  young  womanhood  she  was  a 
successful  school  teacher,  and  her  characteristics  are  those  of  persistent 
industry,  courage,  and  love  of  learning  and  progress.  In  political 
sentiment  she  was  always  a  Republican.  Her  brother,  Josiah  Mel- 
cher,  is  a  prominent  minister  in  Bloomington,  Illinois,  who  has  writ- 
ten several  works  on  theology. 

Elmer  B.  Stephenson,  the  Treasurer,  was  the  third  son  and  child, 
and  was  born  at  Troy  Grove,  La  Salle  county,  Illinois,  on  December 
7,  1858.  When  a  child  his  father's  family  removed  to  a  farm  near 
Troy  Grove,  where  he  spent  his  boyhood  life.  His  occupation  was 
that  of  attending  the  district  school  in  winter,  as  soon  as  old  enough, 
and  working  on  the  farm  in  the  summer  season.  And  while  a  farmer 
he  performed  many  a  month  of  hard  work,  doing  the  labor  of  a  full 
hand  in  harvest  field,  corn  gathering,  or  elsewhere,  from  the  age  of 
fifteen  to  eighteen. 

When  eighteen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  office  of  Dr.  AV.  G. 
Houtz,  with  the  intention  of  studying  medicine,  and  while  there  gave 
the  subject  some  investigation,  and  also  devoted  some  time  to  the  im- 
provement of  his  education.  AVhen  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  made 
a  year's  tour  of  the  Southern  States,  exploring  as  far  south  as  Texas. 
Upon  returning  he  found  that  his  old  friend  Dr.  Houtz  had  removed 
to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  and  upon  the  doctor's  urgent  invitation,  Mr- 
Stephenson  followed  him  to  Lincoln,  in  1880. 

Not  having  the  means  with  which  to  pursue  a  professional  career, 
and  finding  it  difficult  to  secure  remunerative  employment,  his  first 
three  years  were  spent  in  incongenial  labor  at  low  wages.  To  add  to 
his  discouragement,  if  his  natural  unflagging  resolution  had  allowed 
him  to  get  discouraged,  the  end  of  the  first  and  second  year  each  found 
him  prostrated  with  severe  illness.  Having  succeeded  in  saving  a  little 
money  during  the  third  year,  he  was  enabled  to  unite  with  Mr.  D.  W. 
Moseley  in  the  real  estate  business  in  1883,  under  the  firm  style  of 
Moseley  &  Stephenson. 

But  wealth  did  not  rush  in  to  overwhelm  the  firm  immediately,  and 
the  first  year  was  a  hard  contest  to  make  expenses.  But  1885  was  a 
year  of  high-tide  prosperity  to  Lincoln,  and  Moseley  &  Stephenson, 
having  laid  a  careful  foundation,  were  rewarded  with  a  successful  bus- 
iness.     This  continued  during  1886,  and  they  were  able  to  close  up 


196  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOI.X. 

the  year's  work  with  the  biUance  sheet  decidedly  in  their  favor. 
A\'liile  together  Messrs.  Moseley  &  Stephenson  placed  upon  the  mar- 
ket, for  a  syndicate,  the  lots  of  l)oth  Belmont  and  Riverside  additions 
to  the  city  of  I^incoln. 

The  following  year,  in  1887,  Mr.  Stephenson  severed  his  business 
connection  Avitli  Mr.  Moseley  and  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Mr. 
M'hitney  J.  Marshall  for  the  transaction  of  the  real  estate  business. 
This  association  was  continued  with  profit  to  both  members  until  Mr. 
Stephenson  was  elected  to  the  office  of  City  Treasurer  in  April  last, 
having  been  nominated  to  that  over  sevei'al  strong  competitors.  He 
was  elected  by  a  majority  of  about  1,300.  Mr.  Marshall,  his  partner, 
was  fortunate  also,  having  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  by  Mayor  Graham,  wlio  was  elected  on  the  same  ticket 
with  Mr.  Stephenson. 

The  success  of  Mr.  Stephenson  has  not  been  due  to  favoritism  nor 
the  influence  of  powerful  friends,  nor  to  accident.  It  has  been  accom- 
j)lished  in  the  face  of  many  discouragements,  and  a  man  of  less  per- 
sistent determination  would  have  failed.  Hard  work,  courage,  and 
good  management,  have  won  for  Mr.  Stephenson  a  comfortable  fortune 
and  an  honorable  position,  which  he  now  occupies  with  prudence  and 
efficiency. 

Hon.  G.  M,  Lambertson,  City  Attorney  for  the  city  of  Lincoln,  is 
a  leading  attorney  of  this  city,  and  a  gentleman  of  State-wide  reputa- 
tion. 

His  fatiier  was  Samuel  I..ambertson,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
in  the  year  1815.  Though  not  an  educated  man,  he  is  a  lover  of  books, 
learning,  and  progress,  and  has  never  neglected  any  opportunity  to 
secure  additional  knowledge  or  advance  the  education  of  his  family. 
Early  in  life  he  Mas  apprenticed  to  tlie  tailor's  trade,  and  having 
learned  ihv.  art  thoroughly,  he  opened  a  merchant-tailoring  house  at 
Franklin,  Indiana.  He  followed  this  occupation  most  of  the  time 
for  fifty  years,  and  accumulated  a  little  fortune  at  it.  He  never  held 
any  ])olitical  office,  but  was  at  one  time  a  Knight  Temj>lar  in  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  has  for  many  years  been  a  member  and  officer 
in  the  Bai)tist  church.  He  was  naturally  a  ])atriot.  fn  ])olitics  he 
was  first  a  Whig,  when  the  Whigs  were  the  best  party.  Then  he  be- 
came an  Abolitionist;    then  went  into  the  ranks  of  the   IJepublican 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY 


197 


party.  When  the  war  began  he  was  early  in  the  field  as  a  staunch 
defender  of  the  Union.  He  promptly  organized  Company  F  of  the 
Seventh  Indiana  Infantry,  with  tiie  opening  of  hostilities,  and  became 
its  captain.  During  the  first  two  years  of  service,  he  participated  in 
eighteen  important  battles,  including  those  of  Antietam  and  the  second 
Bull  Run.  At  the  close  of  his  second  year  he  returned  to  his  home 
county  to  encourage  enlistments,  and  succeeded  in  raising  a  regiment 
of  thirteen  companies, Mhich  were  called  the  "Home  Guards."    These 


HON.  C4.  31.  LAMBERTSON. 


he  equipped,  and  then  was  elected  Colonel  of  the  regiment.  The 
"Home  Guards"  were  immediately  called  into  service  by  Governor 
Morton  to  repel  the  invasion  of  Indiana  by  John  JNIorgan,  which  the 
guards  aided  to  thoroughly  accomplish. 

He  now  resides  with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Elgin,  at  Southport, 
Indiana,  and  is  enjoying  the  well-earned  profits  of  a  busy  early  life. 

The  mother  of  Mr.  G.  M.  Lambertson  was  born  in  Kentucky,  in 
1818,  and  was  the  daughter  of  a  Baptist  minister,  who  preached  in 
Kentucky  and  Indiana,  named  Lewis  Morgan.  She  was  a  woman  of 
energy,  courage,  and  positive  thought,  and  had  j)ower  to  influence  those 


198  HISTORY    OF    THK    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

with  whom  she  caiiu'  in  coiitaot.  8he  was  devoted  to  works  of  char- 
itv,  religion,  and  the  elevation  of  her  fellow  man.  Her  death  occurred 
in  1877,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  Her  children  were  G.  M.  Lara- 
bertson,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Elgin,  now  of  Logansport,  Indiana,  now  aged 
thirty-seven;  Mrs.  U.  M.  Chaille,  living  at  Indianapolis,  aged  thirty- 
five;  Mrs.  I.  B.  Lavelle,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  aged  thirty-three;  and 
Dr.  O.  F.  Lambertson,  of  Lincoln. 

Genio  Madison  Lambertson  was  born  at  Frankfort,  Indiana,  May 
19,  1850.  He  began  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  State, 
and  later  became  a  student  in  the  Baptist  college  at  Franklin,  Indi- 
ana. He  then  attended  AVabash  University,  at  Crawfordsville,  Ind., 
for  six  months,  and  then  entered  Chicago  University,  from  whence 
he  graduated,  in  1872, 

He  then  studied  law  with  Messrs.  Overstreet  &  Hunter,  leading 
attorneys  of  Franklin,  Indiana,  and  having  carefully  fitted  himself 
for  a  legal  career,  he  selected  Lincoln  for  his  future  home,  and  located 
here  June  1,  1874. 

He  began  his  life  work  as  a  clerk  in  the  law  office  of  Lamb  &  Bill- 
ingsley,  and  later  became  a  member  of  that  firm.  In  December,  1878, 
;Mr.  Lambertson  w^as  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney  for 
the  District  of  Nebraska,  by  President  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  and  con- 
tinued in  that  position  for  eight  years,  with  high  credit  to  himself. 
In  this  position  he  made  a  State-wide  reputation.  At  the  close  of  his 
second  term  he  was  tendered  a  temporary  reappointment  by  President 
Cleveland,  but  this  he  declined. 

From  the  expiration  of  his  second  term,  in  February,  1889,  he  has 
been  steadily  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  this  city. 
He  now^  ranks  among  the  most  able  and  successful  attorneys  of  Lincoln. 
Among  his  most  recent  important  achievements  was  the  procurement  of 
a  writ  of  luihcdx  corpua  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  the  liberation  of  the  Councilmen  from  the  jail  at  Omaha,  wherein 
they  were  incarcerated  by  order  of  Judge  Brewer,  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  for  alleged  contempt.  Mr.  Lambertson  also  repre- 
sented the  city  before  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission,  in  its 
suit  to  require  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  to  deliver  shipments  from 
San  Francisco  at  Lincoln  as  cheaply  as  at  Omaha,  when  the  merchan- 
dise passed  through  Lincoln  in  reaching  Omaha,  and<  pro  rata  when 
shipped  otherwise.     The  Commission  sustained  the  proposition  ad- 


LINCOLN    POLITICALLY.  199 

vanced  by  Mr.  Lambertson  and  the  city  secured  the  relief  demanded. 
He  was  appointed  City  Attorney  in  1888,  and  Mayor  Graham  reap- 
pointed him  to  the  same  office  in  the  spring  of  1889.  In  this  position 
the  business  men  of  the  city  consider  him  a  prudent  and  safe  adviser. 

Mr.  Lambertson  was  married  on  June  10,  1880,  to  Miss  Jane  Gun- 
dry,  daughter  of  Mr.  Joseph  Gundry,  a  prominent  capitalist  of  Min- 
eral Point,  Wis.  She  was  born  at  Mineral  Point,  Wis.,  August  29, 
1855,  and  was  educated  at  Kemper  Hall,  Kenosha,  Wis.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lambertson  rank  justly  among  the  most  respected  people  in 
the  best  social  circles  of  the  city.  Their  children  are  Margery  Eliz- 
abeth, born  August  23, 1881,  and  Nancy  Perry,  born  August  26, 1883. 

Mr.  Lambertson  is  a  prominent  and  respected  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  in  this  city,  and  he  is  ever  ready  to  contribute  to  the 
progress  of  the  city  and  welfare  of  mankind  by  both  voice  and  deed. 


200  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  Xy. 

Lixcoi.N's  Kailroads— WiiK.v  Btilt  and  the  Bonds  Voted  Them — The 
Tekritohy  Into  Which  They  Penetrate— The  Commercial  Advan- 
tage Given  Lincoln  by  Her  Railroad  Lines— Her  Telegraph  and 
Express  Systems. 

As  a  railroad  center  all  must  concede  that  Lincoln  stands  at  the 
head  among  AA^estern  cities.  Her  great  lines  of  road  reach  out  in 
everv  direction,  controlling  for  her  the  trade  of  a  territory  vast  in  ex- 
tent, unlimited  in  resources,  and  wonderful  in  its  possibilities.  The 
showing  which  can  be  made  demonstrates  conclusively  that  Lincoln  is 
the  heart  of  the  most  complete  system  of  railroads  over  which  com- 
merce passes  to  and  from  any  trans-Mississippi  city,  and  the  best  dis- 
tributing point  in  the  western  half  of  the  L^nited  States.  That  such 
is  the  fact  makes  it  of  interest  to  consider  in  detail  the  lines  of  road 
over  \\hicli  our  commerce  passes,  when  they  were  built,  how  they 
came  to  be  built,  the  inducements  offered  them  to  come,  and  the  other 
facts  in  connection  therewith  which  suggest  themselves  to  the  inquir- 
ing mind. 

First,  let  attention  be  called  toTjincoln's  Eastern  connections.  Three 
great  trunk  lines  from  the  East  operate  their  own  tracks  into  the  city : 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy,  the  Fremont,  Elkhorn  and  Mis- 
souri Valley,  (Northwestern,)  and  the  Missouri  Pacific.  Lincoln  is 
the  terminus  of  the  Missouri  Pacific's  northwestern  line,  which  gives 
the  city  an  outlet  direct  to  the  Gulf  and  the  Atlantic.  In  addition  to 
these  the  Omaha  &  Republican  Valley  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific 
is  virtually  an  extension  of  the  Rock  Island  and  Milwaukee  roads, 
and  it  may  be  considered  a  certainty  that  the  Rock  Island  will  come 
into  Lincoln  soon  over  its  own  track.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
is  virtually  the  terminal  distril)uting  poiiu  for  seven  great  railroads. 
There  is  no  distributing  point  west  of  I^incoln  in  all  the  vast  region 
that  lies  between  the  Missouri  and  the  Jiocky  mountains,  and  Lincoln 
and  the  cities  on  the  Missouri  reach  too  easily  into  the  territory  of 
Denver  on  the  west  to  leave  a  field  for  the  growth  of  any  new  city 
of  importance  in  the  intervening  territory. 


Lincoln's  railroads,  etc.  201 

Prior  to  1869  the  sound  of  the  locomotive  engine  was  unheard  on 
the  prairies  of  Lancaster,  nor  had  its  shrill  notes  echoed  throuo-h  the 
streets  of  Lincoln.  But  at  that  time  a  change  was  accomplished. 
The  Legislature  of  1869  started  the  building  of  four  roads  by  appro- 
priating 2,000  acres  of  land  to  each  mile  of  road  constructed  in  the 
State  within  two  years.  These  four  roads  started  from  points  on  the 
Missouri  river  and  headed  for  Lincoln.  The  first  was  the  Burlington 
&  Missouri  River  Railroad  in  Nebraska,  Avhich  started  from  Platts- 
mouth ;  the  second,  the  Atchison  &  Nebraska,  from  Atchison  ;  the 
third,  the  Midland  Pacific,  from  Nebraska  City,  and  the  fourth,  the 
Omaha  &  Southwestern,  from  Omaha.  To-day  these  all  belong  to 
the  same  system ;  but  they  started  as  competitors,  and  the  race  was  to 
get  for  each  as  much  as  possible  of  the  250  miles  that  would  exhaust- 
the  500,000  acre  appropriation. 

The  B.  &  M.  had  a  further  inducement  to  come  in  the  shape  of 
bonds  voted  by  the  county  to  the  amount  of  .§50,000. 

Then  the  Atchison  &  Nebraska  was  voted  county  bonds  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $120,000,  and  the  Midland  Pacific  was  tempted  by  a  bonus 
of  $150,000. 

The  Midland  Pacific  gave  promise,  in  consideration  of  so  large  a 
bonus,  to  locate  large  car  shops  in  Lincoln,  but  the  promise  was  never 
carried  out.  The  road  was,  however,  extended  to  York,  and  the 
$150,000  has  proved  to  be  a  good  investment. 

When  these  lines  had  been  completed  into  the  city  from  the  east  and 
southeast,  and  the  B.  ct  M.  had  been  extended  Avest  to  Kearney,  the 
people  began  to  realize  that  the  city  was  already  a  prominent  railroad 
center,  and  could  be  made  the  hub  of  the  State  by  a  continuation  of 
the  efforts  to  attract  new  roads.  Great  enterprise  was  shown  in  this  di- 
rection, and  the  reward  came  in  due  season.  For  several  years  hard 
times  and  poor  crops  interfered  with  railroad  building  seriously,  and 
no  change  was  made  in  the  map  until  1879.  In  that  year  the  city 
gave  $25,000  in  bonds  to  aid  the  Lincoln  &  Northwestern  in  starting 
its  line  to  Columbus,  and  when  that  road  was  under  way  the  Union 
Pacific  retaliated  by  sending  a  branch  of  its  own  down  from  Valpa- 
raiso, and  extending  it  to  Beatrice  a  few  years  later.  An  extra  in- 
ducement in  the  shape  of  a  bonus  was  given  by  the  city  for  the 
Valparaiso  line. 

When  the  revival  of  business  and  restoration  of  confidence  came,. 
14 


'202  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

between  1876  and  1878,  the  B.  S:  M.  began  a  movement  that  made 
it  the  greatest  system  in  the  State.  The  Nebraska  railway  was  leased, 
and  im}K)rtant  extensions  were  j)rojected.  Among  the  first  was  a  line 
from  Hastings  to  the  Republican  A^Uley,  which  in  time  developed 
into  a  great  through  road  to  Denver. 

The  Lincoln  cV:  Northwestern,  a  northern  branch  of  the  A.  &  N., 
was  built  from  Lincoln  to  Columbus,  in  1879,  and  in  the  following 
vear  the  B.  &  M.  secured  possession  of  the  entire  property.  This 
Mas  not  regarded  as  favorable  to  the  city  at  that  time,  but  later  events 
have  shown  that  it  considei'ably  increased  the  importance  of  Lincoln, 
considered  from  a  railway  standpoint.  The  city  became  the  hub  of 
the  B.  c\:  M.  system,  six  lines  belonging  to  that  company  running  out 
in  all  directions.  The  operating  head-quarters  were  located  here,  and 
in  time  the  offices  of  the  general  superintendent,  the  superintendent 
of  telegraph,  the  general  baggage  agent,  the  chief  engineer,  the  sta- 
tioner, the  car  accountant,  and  other  officers,  whose  duties  extend  over 
the  entire  B.  &  M.  system,  were  removed  from  Omaha  and  Platts- 
onuith  and  permanently  located  in  the  fine  building  erected  in  1880 
for  a  passenger  depot  and  head-quarters  building. 

After  the  Union  Pacific  had  been  secured  and  had  been  extended 
south  to  Beatrice,  and  into  Kansas,  there  were  still  a  number  of 
roads  that  the  city  greatly  desired.  The  roads  were  willing  to  be 
courted,  and  the  wooing  went  on  for  several  years.  The  Missour 
Pacific  was  the  first  to  capitulate,  building  a  line  from  Weeping  Wa- 
ter to  the  city  in  1886,  after  receiving  a  donation  from  the  city  of 
$70,000.  But  a  few  months  later  the  Fremont,  Elkhorn  &  Missouri 
Valley  was  also  completed  to  the  city,  coming  from  Fremont,  and  re- 
ceiving a  bonus  from  the  city  of  $50,000.  The  effect  of  the  building 
of  these  roads  was  tremendous.  The  following  spring  saAv  the  great- 
est activity  in  real  estate  the  city  has  ever  known. 

THE  BURLINGTON  ROAD. 

Lincoln  is  particularly  interested  only  in  that  portion  of  thcB.  tt  M. 
system  west  of  the  Missouri  river.  The  total  length  oi'  the  various 
B.  ct  M.  lines  is  2,753  miles,  and  it  is  practically  traversed  by  trav- 
eling men  icpresenting  T^incoln  jobbing  houses.  On  only  a  few  miles 
oi'  road  southwest  of  Omaha,  a  few  miles  west  of  Atchison,  and  a 
.short  stretch  of  road  east  of  Denver,  are  the  jobbers  of  Lincoln  un- 
able to  df»  a  profitable  business. 


204  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  impregnable  position  held  by  Lincoln  as  the  distributing  center 
of  all  the  vast  territory  covered  by  this  system,  can  be  better  under- 
stood bv  studying  a  Burlington  map  than  by  reading  pages  of  argu- 
ment. It  will  show  that  the  main  C.  B.  &  Q.  line  from  Chicago 
enters  Nebraska  at  Plattsmouth,  twenty  miles  south  of  Omaha,  comes 
directlv  to  liincoln  and  west  to  Denver.  Lincoln  is  situated  almost 
midway  between  these  great  cities,  being  555  miles  from  Chicago  and 
484  miles  from  Denver.  From  this  city  four  additional  trunk  lines 
extend  in  as  many  directions.  These,  as  Avell  as  the  main  line,  cover 
a  large  territory  with  their  branches.  Taken  in  the  order  of  their  im- 
portance to  the  city,  the  Wyoming  branch  ought  to  be  considered  first. 
This  is  an  extension  of  the  old  Midland  Pacific  from  York  through 
Aurora  and  (Traiid  Island,  up  into  Custer  county,  and  on  to  the  new 
citv  of  Alliance,  in  Box  Butte  county,  360  miles  from  Lincoln.  From 
Alliance,  a  branch  is  now  being  constructed  to  the  Black  Hills,  in 
Wyoming,  168  miles  to  the  northwest.  Another  line  will,  without 
doubt,  be  pushed  west  from  Alliance,  perhaps  to  the  Yellowstone  re- 
y;ion,  and  on  to  a  connection  with  the  Northern  Pacific.  This  road 
traverses  a  very  promising  region.  Between  Lincoln  and  Broken 
Bow  the  country  is  famous  for  its  fertility.  Between  Broken  Bow 
and  Alliance  the  live  stock  industry  will  always  thrive.  The  Box 
Butte  region  is  excellent  for  agricultural  products  again,  and  AV>om- 
ino;  is  rich  in  minerals  and  has  inexhaustible  beds  of  coal.  Lincoln 
is  the  terminus  of  this  road.  All  trains  are  made  up  here,  and  the 
entire  line  is  managed  from  this  city.  Two  passenger  trains  each 
way  as  far  as  Ravenna  and  one  the  remainder  of  the  distance  to  Al- 
liance, enable  the  people  along  the  line  to  communicate  easily  with 
Ijincoln.  Freight  trains  are  obliged  to  make  an  early  start  in  the 
morning  for  the  northwest,  and  in  the  shipment  of  goods  on  this  line 
the  I.,incoln  jobber  is  from  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours  ahead  of 
all  competition.  The  entire  road  looks  naturally  to  Lincoln  for  sup- 
plies. 

Another  long  line  on  which  the  city  finds  a  ready  market,  reaches 
to  Ciicyenne,  Wyoming,  a  distance  of  488  miles.  The  natural  course 
of  traffic  on  this  line  is  west  to  Crete,  twenty  miles  on  the  main  line, 
south  to  Dc  Witt,  thirty  miles,  thence  west  through  Strang,  Edgar, 
Blue  Jlill,  and  Jloldredge,  all  junction  points  for  north  and  south 
branches  of  the  same  system,  and  into  Colorado  and  Wyoming,  where 


Lincoln's  railroads,  etc.  205 

Cheyenne  is  the  present  terminus.  The  country  traversed  is  excep- 
tionally fertile,  and  the  towns  are  thriving,  Lincoln  jobbers  sell 
goods  on  the  entire  road. 

The  main  line  west  ought  to  be  mentioned  as  the  road  upon  which 
the  best  cities  of  the  western  part  of  the  State  are  situated.  It  runs 
to  Denver,  484  miles,  and  the  Lincoln  jobber  is  able  to  cover  400 
miles  of  it  with  profit  to  himself  and  his  customer. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  B.  &  M.  has  three  great  lines  running 
west  out  of  Lincoln,  which  extend  the  entire  distance  across  the  State, 
which  are  connected  by  branches  at  frequent  intervals. 

The  Burlington  is  moving  toward  northern  Nebraska.  Branches 
have  been  extended  from  Central  City  in  three  parallel  lines,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  road  now  in  operation  from  Lincoln  to  Columbus 
will  also  be  pushed  into  the  North  Platte  region. 

The  southern  and  southeastern  portions  of  the  State  are  gridironed 
w^itli  B.  &  M.  lines,  and  as  all  roads  once  led  to  Rome,  so  they  now 
lead  to  Lincoln.  Nebraska  City,  fifty-five  miles  east,  on  the  Missouri 
river,  has  the  original  Midland  Pacific  branch,  which  is  now  connected 
with  the  "Q"  system  in  Iowa  by  means  of  a  magnificent  steel  bridge 
opened  in  the  past  year.  This  gives  Lincoln  another  connection  with 
Chicago. 

The  Atchison  &  Nebraska  became  a  part  of  a  system  connecting 
St  Joe,  Kansas  City,  and  Atchison,  with  Lincoln,  and  also  with  Den- 
ver, by  means  of  a  line  through  the  southern  tier  of  counties  of  Ne- 
braska, meeting  at  Oxford  with  the  main  line  from  this  city.  From 
this  southern  trunk  three    important  feeders  extend  into  Kansas. 

vSome  idea  of  the  strategic  position  of  the  city  Avith  respect  to  these 
lines  may  also  be  gained  from  a  visit  to  the  offices  and  yards  and 
shops.  Nearly  100  trains  enter  the  city  daily  on  the  various  lines, 
but  not  a  single  locomotive  passes  through.  The  train  crews  have 
their  head-quarters  here,  and  the  number  of  employes  stationed  here 
to  look  after  the  business  of  the  company  is  nearly  800.  The  yards 
are  the  most  extensive  in  the  entire  system,  forty-two  miles  of  track 
being  inside  of  the  yard  limits. 

The  Lincoln  passenger  depot  is  the  best  owned  by  the  system,  and 
is  the  center  of  more  business  than  any  depot  occupied  by  a  single 
railroad  in  the  country.  Twenty-five  passenger  trains  arrive  and  de- 
part every  day.  One-half  of  the  people  entering  the  State  come 
through  the  gateway  called  Lincoln. 


206  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

As  a  means  of  sho\vini>'  the  business  done  here  by  the  B.  &  M, 
system  and  the  increase  of  business  during  the  past  three  years,  the 
following  table  will  be  of  service: 


1886. 

1887. 
1888. 


Totals. 


NO.   CARS.  I  TONNAGE. 


12,651  136,565 

20,889  217,518 

23,477    I         257,690 


57,017    1         611,773 


During  1888  the  average  number  of  men  employed  on  the  B.  &  M. 
in  Lincoln  was  793,  to  whom  an  average  monthly  wage  of  143,443.50 
was  paid.  Within  the  city  limits  are  forty -two  miles  of  track,  a  very 
large  showing  for  a  city  of  this  size. 

THE   UNION  PACIFIC. 

This  road  has  usually  been  considered  an  Omaha  road,  and  many 
are  now  firm  in  the  belief  that  the  U.  P.  would  do  nothing  for  Lin- 
coln beyond  that  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to  its  own  welfare;  but 
the  facts  arc  that  the  L^nion  Pacific  is  becoming  a  more  important 
road  to  Lincoln  every  year,  and  the  management  is  looking  toward 
Lincoln  with  favor  as  time  passes.  The  road  appreciates  that  Lin- 
coln is  an  important  and  growing  commercial  center,  and  is  willing  to 
give  all  the  facilities  that  are  afforded  by  its  immense  system  of  road 
in  Nebraska  and  Kansas.  As  evidence  of  this,  the  treatment  given 
I^incoln  upon  the  opening  of  the  K.  C.  ct  O.  railway  may  be  cited. 
This  road  was  built  to  occupy  vacant  territory  in  the  southwest.  Ex- 
tensions were  made  from  Fairfield  west  to  Mindcn,  and  tiicnce  south- 
west to  Alma.  At  the  .same  time  the  road  was  built  east  and  north  to 
a  connection  with  the  O.  ct  R.  A",  at  Stromsburg.  During  the  l)uild- 
ing  of  this  line  Lincoln  looked  upon  it  with  suspicion.  It  was  to  be 
a  part  of  the  V.  P.  .system,  and  that,  in  the  minds  of  many  people, 
meant  that  its  business  must  go  either  to  Omaha  or  Kansas  City.  It 
was  somctiiing  of  a  surprise,  then,  when  the  road  upon  completion  was 
operatetl  as  a  line  running  directly  out  of  Lincoln.  Through  trains 
were  put  on  running  from  Alma  to  Lincoln  by  w'ay  of  Stromsburg  and 
Valparais(j,  A  car  goes  to  Omaha,  but  the  solid  train,  with  this  ex- 
ception is  run  through  to  Lincoln.    That  it  increases  the  railroad  busi- 


Lincoln's  railroads,  etc.  207 

ness  of  the  city  not  a  little  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  this  train  carries, 
according  to  the  statements  of  the  conductors,  150  passengers  per  day 
on  an  average.  Equal  facilities  are  given  for  reaching  that  line  with 
freight,  and  thus  it  turns  out  that  one  of  the  most  important  extensions 
made  by  the  Union  Pacific  for  several  years  is  practically  a  ncAV  line 
out  of  Lincoln. 

This  city  is  situated  on  the  branch  connecting  the  Nebraska  and 
Kansas  divisions  of  the  road,  and  is  about  midway  between  them- 
Direct  connection  is  made  with  the  roads  traversing  the  northern  tier 
of  counties  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  and  distributing  rates  are  given  tliat 
enable  the  Lincoln  jobber  to  reach  that  territory  on  advantageous 
terms.  The  L^nion  Pacific  system  in  Nebraska  includes  the  main  line 
from  Omaha  west  and  a  number  of  important  branches.  On  all  of 
those  lines  tlie  Lincoln  merchant  has  nearly  the  same  facilities  and 
rates  as  are  enjoyed  by  Omaha.  In  connection  with  the  Kock  Island 
the  road  forms  a  through  line  to  Chicago,  and  a  good  pijrtion  of  the 
"in"  business  comes  over  this  road.  For  "out"  business  this  system 
is  very  important.  The  main  line  and  brandies  traverse  nearly  forty 
Nebraska  counties,  nearly  all  of  them  favorably  located  and  capable 
of  sustaining  a  large  population.  Lincoln  goods  go  out  over  the  sys- 
tem to  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah,  and  Idaho,  according  to  the  state- 
ments made  by  the  jobbers  and  also  by  the  agents  of  the  company. 
The  buiness  of  the  Lincoln  offices  has  increased  steadily  since  the 
road  was  built  into  the  city.  When  the  Missouri  Pacific  and  the  Elk- 
horn  were  completed  to  this  point,  they  shared  with  the  older  roads 
the  Eastern  traffic.  The  Union  Pacific  was  able  to  give  them  a  liberal 
portion  of  it  and  still  receive  for  its  own  share  a  much  larger  tonnage 
in  1886  than  in  1885,  and  a  still  greater  increase  in  the  two  following 
years.  Although  the  exact  figures  of  the  business  cannot  be  given, 
the  local  agent,  Mr.  Miller,  gives  the  information  that  the  increase 
has  been  most  wonderful  in  the  past  three  years.  This  city  has  thr<iugh 
trains  or  excellent  connections  on  all  the  roads  of  the  Union  Pacific 
system,  which  includes  over  1,000  miles  of  road  in  this  State  and  fully 
as  much  in  Kansas,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah,  and  Idah*.,  all  regu- 
larly traveled  bv  salesmen  from  Lincoln  jobbing  houses. 


208  IIHTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

THE    MISSOURI  PACIFIC. 
When  (uuild  built  liisfii>t  Nebraska  extension,  in  1880,  he  thought 
that  Ijincoln  was  too  insi_i>nilicant  a  city  to  reach  with  his  main  line, 
and  lie  therefore  passed  it  thirty  miles  to  the  east.     This  was  a  mis- 
take, as  the  managers  of  the  road  soon  discovered.     In  a  few  years  a 
Lincoln  branch  was  projected,  and  in  188(J  it  was  completed  to  this 
city.    This  line  caused  not  a  little  of  the  unparalleled  prosperity  of  the 
last  three  vears.     By  giving  a  direct  road  to  St.  Louis  shorter  than  the 
Omaha  line,  it  placed  the  jobbers  at  an  advantage  which  they  under- 
stood and  knew  how  to  use.    Freights  on  all  southern  business  are  now 
the  same  as  to  Omaha,  and  a«  the  out  rate  is  lower  than  from  Omaha, 
the  Lincoln  jobber  is  very  well  cared  for  on  all  goods  from  the  south- 
-ern  market.     The  r<»ad  was  also  important  in  opening  up  the  coal 
fields  of  the  south,  and  in  bringing  the  yellow  pine  and  oak  and  other 
hard  woods  of  the  Missouri  and  Arkansas  to  Lincoln.     The  impor- 
tance of  the  traffic  from  that  region  is  great,  and  it  is  swelling  in  vol- 
imie  from  year  to  year.     The  system  includes  about  7,000  miles  of 
Toad.     Kansas  City  and  St.  Louis  are  reached  by  two  daily  trains. 
Through  cars  run  from  Lincoln  to  Kansas  City,  where  close  connec- 
tions are  made  for  trains  to  all  points  on  the  system,  east,  west,  and 
south.     This  has  become  a  favorite  route  for  the  traveler  who  does 
not  care  to  pass  through  Chicago,  but  would  prefer  to  visit  the  cities 
further  south.     The  road  has  also  done  a  large  California  business  in 
Lincoln,  taking  the  traveler  over  the  southern  route. 

The  Missouri  Pacific  was  wanted  by  the  city  because  it  Avas  thought 
that  it  would  be  particularly  valuable  in  bringing  in  coal  and  lumber. 
The  books  of  the  freight  office  show  that  it  has  filled  every  promise  in 
this  regard.  Yellow  pine,  hard  wood,  coal,  and  southern  products, 
form  the  bulk  of  the  business.  A  considerable  amount  of  miscella- 
neous freight  is  also  brought  from  the  east  via  St.  Louis.  By  com- 
parinir  the  record  of  the  year  month  by  month  with  that  of  1888,  it  is 
found  that  the  business  of  the  Lincoln  freight  office  has  increased  fully 
fifty  per  cent  for  the  entire  year. 

THE   NORTHWESTERN. 

Previous  to  188G  the  wholesale  trade  of  the  city  of  Lincoln  was  con- 
fined to  the  soutii  half  of  the  State  of  Nebraska.  The  territory  occupied 
was  known  to  be  by  far  the  most  fertile  })ortion,but  still  it  was  felt  thai 


Lincoln's  railroads,  etc.  209 

much  advantage  would  result  from  a  connection  with  the  entire  State. 
A  line  reaching  the  Fremont,  Elkhorn  &  Missouri  Valley  was  par- 
ticularly desired,  as  that  would  not  only  give  access  to  the  entire  Elk- 
horn  system  in  Nebraska,  but  the  Northwestern  system  reaching  to 
Chicago  and  to  the  great  lumber  districts  of  the  north.  At  one  time 
a  company  was  organized  to  build  the  Lincoln  &  Fremont  road,  in 
order  to  secure  such  a  connection,  but  the  enterprise  failed.  It  is,  per- 
haps, well  that  it  did,  for  in  a  short  time  the  city  was  able  to  attract 
a  branch  of  the  road. 

Lincoln  became  a  city  on  the  Northwestern  lines  in  1886,  the  Elk- 
horn  railway  building  a  branch  from  Fremont.  Direct  connection 
was  thus  obtained  with  a  system  of  road  covering  7,005  miles,  1,252 
miles  of  this  belonging  to  the  Elkhorn,  over  1,000  being  in  Nebraska. 
The  main  line  extends  from  Blair,  on  the  Missouri  river  a  short  dis- 
tance north  of  Omaha,  to  Fremont,  on  the  Union  Pacific  in  Dodge 
county.  From  that  point  it  follows  the  valley  of  the  Elkhorn  river 
toward  the  northwest,  and  traverses  the  entire  northern  portion  of  the 
State.  At  Chadron,  in  the  extreme  northwest,  a  branch  diverges  to 
tap  the  Black  Hills,  while  the  main  line  continues  until  the  Wyoming 
coal  fields  are  reached.  There  are  numerous  feeders :  one  connects 
Lincoln  with  Fremont,  another  gives  Omaha  connection  with  the 
main  line.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  branch  to  this  city  is  in  general 
direction  a  continuation  of  the  main  line.  It  places  Lincoln  practi- 
cally the  same  distance  away  from  the  main  line  as  Omaha.  The  two 
competing  cities  have  the  same  out  rates  and  the  same  train  service- 
They  are  on  an  equality  in  battling  for  the  business  of  Northern  Ne- 
braska. 

In  the  year  1885  the  State  Legislature  of  Nebraska  passed  a  law 
adopting  the  commissioner  system  of  railroad  control,  a  system  which 
so  far  has  proved  to  be  the  best  devised  for  regulating  and  controlling 
the  operations  of  railroads.  The  State  Constitution  expressly  forbids 
the  creating  of  any  new  State  offices,  and  hence  to  get  around  this  con- 
stitutional impediment,  the  law  provides  that  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners shall  consist  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Auditor  of  Public 
Accounts,  Attorney  General,  Treasurer,  and  Commissioner  of  Public 
Lands  and  Buildings,  who  shall  appoint  three  secretaries,  to  whom  the 
duties  of  the  board  are  in  a  large  degree  delegated.     Accordingly  the 


210  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

present  "State  Board  of  Transportation"  is  composed  of  Hon.  G.  L. 
Laws;,  T.  H.  Benton,  William  Leese,  J.  E.  Hill,  and  John  Steen.  The 
^r^ecretaries  are  J.  R.  Gilkeson,  L.  W.  Gilchrist,  and  W.  S.  Garber.  The 
law  of  1885  provided  that  the  Auditor,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Attor- 
ney General  should  constitute  the  board,  but  the  law  of  1887  added 
to  these  officers  the  Treasurer  and  Commissioner  of  Public  Lands  and 
Buildings. 

Taken  all  together  Lincoln's  railroad  facilities  are  unsurpassed  in 
the  West,  and  the  extent  to  which  the  business  done  by  her  roads  has- 
grown  is  the  surest  and  best  indication  of  the  wonderful  growth  of  the 
business  of  the  city. 

As  Lincoln  is  well  equipped  with  railroad  lines,  so  is  she  with  tel- 
egraph lines  and  express  facilities.  The  Western  Union  is,  of  course, 
here,  and  has  been  ever  since  the  coming  of  the  first  railroad.  The 
Pacific  Mutual,  or  the  Postal  Telegraph  Cable  Company,  has  been  in 
operation  in  the  city  for  nearly  four  years,  and  does  a  thriving  busi- 
ness. 

At  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  I^iincoln,  the  express  business  of  all 
the  country  w^est  of  the  Missouri  river  was  by  common  consent  of  all 
the  other  express  companies,  conceded  to  be  the  exclusive  territory  of  the 
Wells-l'^argo  Express  Company,  with  headquarters  at  San  Francisco^ 
That  company  established  an  office  in  Lincoln  early  in  1868,  with 
Austin  Humphrey  as  agent.  He  conducted  the  business  in  one  corner 
of  the  Humphrey  Brothers'  hardware  store,  in  the  old  frame  building^ 
that  stood  on  the  northwest  corner  of  ninth  and  O  streets,  on  the  ground 
now  occupied  by  the  fiv6  story  brick  block  of  the  same  firm. 

In  a  few  years  the  increased  business  requiring  the  exclusive  time 
«»f  an  agent,  W.  H.  Wallace,  an  experienced  expressman,  was  sent  here 
to  take  charge  of  tlie  business, opening  a  regular  office  on  ninth  street, 
between  (>  and  P,  with  a  new  wagon,  and  Morris  Turner  as  clerk. 

In  the  sunnncr  of  1875  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  de- 
cided to  do  the  express  business  of  its  line,  and  as  this  was  the  only 
railroad  upcjn  which  the  Wells  Fargo  operated,  and  as  the  territory 
was  isolated  from  the  headcjuarters  at  San  Francisco,  and  as  the  busi- 
ness of  the  company  was  greatly  reduced  by  the  grasshopj)ers  of  1873, 
1874, 1875,  the  company  on  July  1,  1875,  withdrew  from  its  business, 
and  abandoned  all  its  territory  east  of  Ogden.  Its  place  was  imme- 
diately filled  by  the  Liiion    Pacific  Express  Company,  on  the  Unioa 


LINCOLN  S    RAILROADS,    ETC. 


211 


Pacific  railroad ;  the  American  Express  Company,  then  operating  on 
the  C.  B.  &  Q.  system,  taking  the  B.  &  M.;  the  United  States  Ex- 
press Company,  operating  on  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  and 
Kansas  City  &  Council  Bluifs,  taking  the  Midland  Pacific  from  Brown- 
ville  to  Seward,  and  the  A.  &  X.  from  Atchison  to  Lincoln. 

The  American  Company  took  the  office  and  fixtures,  with  the  agent 
of  the  Wells- Fargo  Company  and  the  United  States  Company  occu- 
pied a  frame  building  on  Tenth  street,  back  of  the  First  National 
Bank,  with  Mr,  DeKay  as  agent.  The  frame  building  referred  to 
had  done  duty  for  years  on  the  comer  now  occupied  by  the  First  Na- 


THE   HUMPHREY   BLOCK. 


tional  Bank,  as  a  first  class  fiimily  grocery,  kept  by  Thomas  Sewell. 
In  November,  1875,  J.  S.  Atwood  having  extended  the  Union  block 
on  O  street  to  the  alley  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh,  the  American 
Express  removed  its  office  to  the  room  next  the  alley,  the  agent  living 
in  rooms  above,  stairs  leading  down  into  the  office. 

On  July  1,  1876,  Mr.  Wallace  was  succeeded  by  S.  W.  Chapman, 
who  held  the  agency  until  December  1,  1880,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  S.  J.  Roberts.  During  this  time  the  growth  of  business  of  the 
companies  was  more  than  300  per  cent.  In  February,  1877,  Mr. 
DeKay,  agent  of  the  United  States  Company,  was  succeeded  by  J.  E. 


212  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LIN'COLN. 

R.  Millar,  who  still  holds  the  place;  and  the  office  was  moved  to  the 
Union  Block,  on  O  street.  In  May,  1884,  Mr.  Roberts,  agent  of  the 
American  Company,  gave  place  to  J.  L.  Hopkins,  who  held  the  place 
until  June,  1887,  when  he  Mas  succeeded  by  C.  S.  Potter,  Avho  was  in 
turn  succeeded  in  .lanuary,  1888,  by  C  R.  Teas,  who  now  occupies 
the  position. 

When  the  Southern  Pacific  completed  its  connection  with  the  Santa 
Fe  at  Deming,  N.  M.,  the  Wells-Fargo  Company  began  a  systematic 
warfare  to  recapture  the  West  Missouri  territory  abandoned  by  it  five  or 
six  years  previous.  After  fighting  more  than  a  year  with  the  Adams 
Express  Company  on  the  Sante  Fe  road,  the  Wells-Fargo  Company 
finally  succeeded  in  driving  its  competitor  out  of  the  territory  west  of 
Kansas  City,  and  then  demanded  the  surrender  of  Nebraska.  The 
American  Company  retired  from  the  B.  tt  M.,  but  tlie  United  States 
Company  for  several  months  held  on  to  the  A.  &  N.,  it  and  the  Wells- 
Fargo  running  opposition,  with  two  messengers  on  each  train,  and 
two  agents  at  each  station.  At  length  the  United  States  Company 
grew  tired,  and  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  being  completed  to  Lincoln 
in  1880,  the  United  States  Company  turned  its  business,  with  agent, 
office,  etc.,  over  to  the  Pacific  Express  Company,  and  retired  from  all 
the  field  Avest  of  Omaha.  Early  in  1886  the  Missouri  Pacific  came 
into  Lincoln  with  the  Pacific  Express  Company,  which  had  worked 
on  to  that  line,  giving  the  city  direct  communication  with  St.  Louis 
and  all  the  lines  belonging  to  that  great  system.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  the  Elkhorn  line  came  in  with  the  Wells-Fargo  Company 
in  connection  Avith  the  American  Express,  opening  Lincoln  to  the  Black 
Hills,  Minneapolis,  Chicago,  and  all  the  5,000  miles  of  the  Chicago  & 
North Avestern  system. 

Ijincoln  now  has  in  name  but  two  express  companies  —  the  Wells- 
Fargo  and  the  Pacific  —  although  really  Avith  the  advantage  of  the 
four ;  the  Wells-Fargo  and  the  American  being  under  the  control  of 
one  company,  and  the  Pacific  and  L^^nited  States  being  consolidated. 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  21  & 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

State  Institutions — The  Penitentiary— Hospital  for  the  Insane  — 
Home  for  the  Friendless  —  The  Penitentiary  Revolt  — Warden 
Nobes's  Story  of  that  Occurrence- Some  of  the  Principal  Actors 
—  New  Incidents  of  the  revolt — The  Explosion  at  the  Asylum. 

At  the  time  the  Commissioners  had  in  consideration  the  selection  of 
a  site  for  the  location  of  the  capital,  Messrs.  W.  T.  Donovan,  of  Lancas- 
ter, Nebraska,  and  Hon.  G.  H.  Hilton,  of  Cincinnati,  O.,  as  an  in- 
ducement to  the  Commissioners  to  select  the  present  site,  offered  to 
donate  to  the  State  forty  acres  of  land,  situated  about  two  and  one-half 
miles  south  of  the  town  of  Lancaster,  upon  the  express  condition  that 
said  land  should  be  reserved  by  the  Commissioners,  and  used  by  the 
State  as  the  site  of  the  proposed  penitentiary.  Upon  the  final  decision 
locating  the  seat  of  government,  this  grant  was  accepted  and  the  res- 
ervation and  location  made  accordingly,  it  being  understood  that  in 
case  the  State  Penitentiary  should  not  be  erected  upon  this  site,  the 
same  should  revert  to  Mr.  Hilton,  in  whom  the  legal  title  was  then 
vested.  This  explains  why  the  penitentiary  is  located  in  a  hollow 
instead  of  being  on  the  hill  either  this  side  or  beyond. 

Among  the  subjects  for  legislation  named  by  the  Governor  to  be 
submitted  to  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  called  to  meet  in 
Lincoln,  in  February,  1870,  was  that  of  erecting  a  State  Penitentiary, 
and  providing  for  the  care  and  custody  of  State  prisoners.  Accord- 
ingly an  act  to  provide  for  both  these  objects  was  passed  at  that  ses- 
sion, and  received  the  approval  of  the  Governor  on  the  4th  day  of 
March,  1870.  The  act  provided  for  the  election  of  three  State  Pris- 
on Inspectors,  who  were  to  take  charge  of  the  sale  of  lands  for  the 
raising  of  the  necessary  funds,  and  also  of  tiie  erection  of  the  build- 
ings. A  temporary  building  was  immediately  erected  on  the  ground 
to  accommodate  the  present  necessities,  which  did  duty  until  the  new 
building  was  completed,  and  which  now  stands  within  the  prison  walls. 

The  three  Inspectors,  Messrs.  W.  W.  Wilson,  W.  W.  Abbey,  and 
F.  Templin,  set  to  work  immediately  upon  their  selection.     W.  H.  B. 


214  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LIXCOI.X. 

Stout,  then  of  Washington  county,  Nebraska,  and  J.  M.  Jamison,  of 
Des  Moine.<,  la.,  were  granted  the  contract  for  $312,000.  The  work, 
as  far  as  the  contract  extended,  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1876,  but 
since  then  numerous  additions  have  been  made  to  the  capacity  of  the 
institution.  At  the  opening  of  the  penitentiary  the  number  of  pris- 
oners was  18,  but  at  present  nearly  400  boarders  are  accommodated. 

Henry  C.  Campbell  was  tiie  first  warden,  appointed  and  he  was 
succeeded  by  William  AVoodhurst,  in  1873,  during  whose  wardenship 
occurred  the  famous  "revolt"  among  the  prisoners,  on  January  11, 
1875. 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  Deputy  AVarden 
C.  J.  Nobes  stood  with  his  hand  upon  the  latch  of  the  door  that 
gave  admission  to  the  old  stable  which  was  then  used  as  a  shop 
for  the  convict  stone-cutters.  The  window  panes  near  by  were  cov- 
ered with  frost.  Had  they  been  clear,  so  that  he  might  have  seen  into 
the  shop,  or  had  he  seen  the  eyes  that  peered  out  at  him  through 
the  little  holes  that  had  been  scraped  through  the  frost,  he  would 
not  have  entered.  But  no  suspicion  of  anything  wrong  had  entered 
his  mind,  and  he  opened  the  door  quickly  and  stepped  in.  If  his 
pulse  did  not  beat  a  trifle  quicker  as  he  did  so,  his  must  have  been 
an  extraordinarily  imperturbable  nature.  As  he  closed  the  door  there 
.stepped  quickly  from  behind  it  twelve  men  whom  he  recognized  by  a 
hasty  and  comprehensive  glance  as  the  most  desperate  convicts  in  the 
prison.  Wm.  ]\IcWaters,  who  was  afterward  killed  by  a  guard  while 
attempting  to  incite  a  revolt,  stood  immediately  in  front  of  Mr.  Nobes, 
with  the  muzzle  of  a  revolver  which  he  had  taken  from  the  guard 
almost  touching  the  warden's  face.  Quin  Bohanan,  afterward  a 
murderer,  stood  near  by  with  a  pick  i-aised  over  the  warden's  head. 
Grouped  around  tiicm,  armed  with  stone-hammers,  which  their  venge- 
ful and  detei-mined  faces  showed  they  wonld  not  hesitate  to  use,  Avere 
AN'arrel,  McKenna,  Thompson,  Gerry,  Elder,  and  five  others,  equally 
desperate  but  not  as  well  known  as  these  leaders. 

A  glance  was  sufficient  to  reveal  everything  to  the  warden.  A 
conspiracy  to  take  the  prison  had  been  formed,  the  guards  in  the 
shop  had  b(>en  overpowered  and  disarmed,  and  the  conspirators  had 
lain  in  wait  for  the  warden.  Their  plan  had  worked  admirably,  and 
when  Mr.  Nobes  was  invited  to  surrender,  he  replied,  "All  right  boys; 
wiiat  do  vou  want?" 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  215 

■"Take  his  six-shooter,"  said  one  of  the  conspirators. 

"  He  hasn't  any,"  said  Mc Waters. 

Nobes  had  always  conveyed  the  impression  that  he  did  not  carry 
a  "gun,"  and  his  heart  gave  a  throb  of  hope  at  McWaters's  remark. 
^'I  began  to  work  my  hand  around  to  my  liip  pocket,  kind  of  careles= 
like,"  he  says  when  he  tells  of  the  experience,  "  but  Bohanan  soon 
discovered  what  I  was  doing,  and  catching  my  hand,  with  the  remark, 
'I'll  take  care  of  that,'  took  my  revolver  from  my  pocket." 

"Take  oif  your  clothes,"  said  McWaters. 

"No,  I  won't  do  it,"  replied  Nobes.  "You  can  undress  me  if  you 
want  to,  but  I  won't  do  it  myself." 

The  conspirators  let  him  have  his  own  way  about  it,  and  soon  had 
him  stripped  to  his  underclothes.  It  was  suggested  that  they  put  a 
striped  suit  on  him,  but  he  told  them  they  could  not  do  that,  and 
they  contented  themselves  with  dressing  him  in  a  teamster's  clothes. 
It  was  then  suggested  that  they  shave  him,  but  he  declared  that  he 
would  not  submit  to  it.  It  was  finally  put  to  a  vote,  and  Elder  and 
Jennings  voted  to  shave  him,  while  the  other  ten  voted  against  it. 
The  barber,  who  had  been  brought  in,  was  accordingly  not  called 
upon  to  exercise  his  art  upon  the  warden. 

The  convicts  sat  their  prisoner  in  a  chair,  tying  his  hands  behind 
it,  and  tying  the  chair  to  a  post.  The  guard  was  disposed  of  in  the 
same  way  at  the  other  end  of  the  shop. 

McWaters  then  arrayed  himself  in  the  warden's  clothes,  and  blacked 
the  sides  of  his  face  with  the  stove  poker,  so  as  to  represent  the  war- 
den's whiskers.  Taking  Nobes's  heavy  cane,  McWaters  formed  seven 
of  the  men  in  line  and  marched  them  across  the  yard  to  the  cell  house 
and  warden's  quarters.  The  guards  on  the  walls  saw  the  moving 
group,  but  as  they  marched  in  the  usual  manner,  each  with  his  right 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  man  in  front,  and  as  McWaters  was 
dressed  in  the  deputy's  suit  and  carried  his  cane,  nothing  was  sus- 
pected. 

The  convicts  found  the  doors  open,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  making 
Warden  Woodhurst  and  the  guards  prisoners.  They  then  went  to 
the  armory,  sending  one  of  their  number  to  Nobes  for  the  key  to  the 
door.  He  pointed  out  the  key  to  the  dispensary,  and  declared  that  it 
was  the  key  to  the  armory,  knowing  that  if  they  had  to  force  the 
armory  door  open  they  would  be  likely  to  alarm  the  guards  on  the 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Malls,  whom,  of  course,  they  hiul  had  no  opportunity  of  capturing. 
Thev  did  liave  to  batter  down  the  door,  but  the  guards  had  in  the 
meantime  been  alarmed  in  quite  another  manner. 

Four  men  had  been  left  to  watcli  the  deputy  warden,  the  guard 
Cochran,  and  Mr.  C.  B.  Fox,  who  were  in  the  stone  shop.  Besides 
the  mutineers,  there  were  about  twenty  other  convicts  in  the  shop,  who 
took  no  part  in  the  revolt,  but  kept  on  working.  When  Mc Waters 
and  Ids  seven  fellow-conspirators  had  gone,  Nobes  called  a  convict 
named  Johnson  to  him  and  asked  him  to  untie  him.  The  four  con- 
spirators left  to  guard  him  told  Johnson  they  would  kill  him  if  he 
did.  "You  are  not  afraid  of  these  fellows,"  said  Nobes;  ''you  untie 
me  and  J  11  protect  you."  Johnson  was  a  fellow  of  a  good  deal  of 
nerve,  but  he  looked  at  the  four  desperate  men  before  him,  calculated 
on  his  chances  with  McW^aters  and  his  seven  comrades,  and  said  that 
he  believed  he  would  not  take  sides  in  the  trouble  either  way. 

It  has  always  been  supposed  that  Mr.  Nobes  succeeded  in  loosening 
his  bonds  himself,  and  tliat  statement  has  been  made  in  every  account 
of  the  revolt.  The  truth  is  that  he  was  released  by  one  of  the  mu- 
tineers who  was  left  to  guard  him.  This  man's  name  was  AVarrell. 
Observing  that  the  deputy  was  struggling  to  free  himself,  Warrell 
came  back  to  him  with  his  hammer  in  hand  and  said :  "You  had  bet- 
ter keep  quiet,  or  I'll  have  to  tap  you  with  this  hammer." 

"You  wouldn't  hit  anybody,"  replied  Nobes.  "A  man  with  only 
four  years  to  serve  here  is  a  fool  to  go  into  a  scheme  like  this.  You 
untie  me  and  I  '11  get  you  out  of  here." 

"  I  don't  dare  to.     They  '11  kill  me  if  I  let  you  go,"  said  Warrell. 

"  They  needn't  know  it  at  all,"  said  Nobes,  "and  if  you  let  me  loose, 
Mc  Waters  and  his  gang  will  not  get  back  here.  You  come  down  here 
and  swing  your  hammer  over  my  head  and  swear  you  '11  kill  me,  and 
then  get  down  behind  the  chair  and  untie  the  straps,  while  pretending 
to  tighten  them.     I  tell  you  I  will  get  you  out  of  here  if  you  '11  do  it.'* 

The  noise  made  by  the  hammers  of  the  men  who  were  working  en- 
abled the  convict  and  the  imprisoned  deputy  to  carry  on  this  conver- 
sation without  being  overheard.  Warrell  followed  the  deputy's 
directions,  and  after  threatening  to  brain  him  with  the  hammer,  got 
down  behind  him,  and  while  apparently  tightening  his  bonds,  loos- 
ened them.  The  other  convicts  were  in  front  of  the  deputy,  and  could 
not  see  what  Warrell  was  doing.    But  the  deputy's  feet  were  also  tied 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  217 

and-  there  was  uo  way  of  loosening  them  without  immediate  detec- 
tion. Fortunately,  as  Warrell  rose  and  moved  away,  two  shots  were 
fired  at  the  cell-house.  Two  of  the  mutineers  went  to  the  window, 
and,  scratching  away  the  frost,  pressed  their  faces  close  to  the  win- 
dow. Another  one,  Edwards,  who  stood  in  the  door,  was  also  watch- 
ing the  cell-house.  All  of  them  had  forgotten  their  prisoner  for  the 
moment.  It  was  a  valuable  moment,  and  Nobes  made  the  most  of  it. 
His  hands  were  free,  and  he  soon  succeeded  in  untying  his  feet.  Ly- 
ing near  him  was  a  hoe.  As  he  sprang  up  and  seized  this,  Kd\vards, 
who  stood  in  the  door,  saw  him  and  gave  the  alarm ;  but  it  was  too 
late.  The  deputy  swung  the  hoe  into  the  air  and  knocking  Edwards, 
crowbar  and  all,  over  a  pile  of  stone,  escaped  from  the  shop  and  ran 
across  the  yard  to  the  stable.  Getting  out  of  range  of  the  convicts' 
guns,  he  called  to  a  guard  to  throw  him  a  six-shooter,  and  taking  this 
in  hand,  he  went  back  to  the  stone  shop.  Arrived  here,  he  made 
Thompson,  one  of  the  mutineers,  untie  the  guard,  and  the  two  got 
outside  the  walls. 

There  was  a  board  wall  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  yard,  and  the 
plan  of  the  mutineers  was  to  dress  themselves  in  citizens'  clothes,  pro- 
cured from  the  warden  and  guards,  secure  arms  from  the  armory,  kill 
the  guard  at  the  southwest  turret,  and  escape  at  nightfall.  The  two 
shots  which  attracted  the  attention  of  the  conspirators  left  to  guard 
the  deputy,  and  which  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  escape,  were  fired 
at  the  guard  in  this  turret.  His  name  was  Julius  Grosjean.  The  first 
shot  cut  his  vest  and  the  second  wounded  him  slightly  in  the  leg. 

It  took  the  deputy  warden  but  a  short  time,  when  he  had  regained 
his  liberty,  to  get  the  guards  together  and  dispose  of  them  to  the  best 
advantage.  They  were  stationed  at  knot-holes  and  other  improvised 
port-holes  where  they  could  command  the  yard,  and  were  instructed 
to  shoot  the  first  man  who  came  into  the  yard  with  a  gun.  Innings, 
one  of  the  mutineers,  appeared  at  the  kitchen  window  with  a  gun,  and 
the  deputy  himself  drew  a  bead  on  him  and  fired.  The  man  disap- 
peared. After  the  surrender  Nobes  learned  that  he  had  gone  up  stairs 
and  surrendered  to  the  warden.  A  bullet-hole  in  the  casement  and  a 
scratch  on  Innings's  neck  gave  evidence  of  the  accuracy  of  the  deputy's 
aim. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  the  revolt  was  discovered  by  the  guards 
on  the  walls  until  the  report  had  reached  the  city,  and  citizens  with 
15 


•218  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

arms  bejian  to  arrive.  The  Governor  wns  also  promptly  notified,  and 
secured  an  almost  immediate  order  for  the  movement  of  the  23d  U. 
S.  infantrv  from  Omalia  to  the  scene  of  tiic  revolt,  "The  citizens  had 
nerve  enont>h,"  says  Mr.  Xobes,  "but  they  were  not  used  to  discipline 
and  von  could  not  count  on  them.  You  might  station  a  man  at  a  cer- 
tain point  and  in  five  minutes  find  that  he  had  gone  somcAvhere  else. 
I  tell  you  I  felt  a  good  deal  better  when  I  heard  the  measured  tramp 
of  the  regulars,  and  the  orders  of  the  offiers  which  I  knew  would  be 
obeyed  to  the  letter." 

The  company  of  regulars  under  Major  Randall  arrived  about  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  throw  a  line  of  guards 
about  the  walls.  The  warden  and  his  wife,  and  two  guards,  in  the 
meantime,  were  the  pris(»ners  of  the  mutineers.  The  latter  made  one 
or  two  experiments  in  the  way  of  going  into  the  yard,  but  a  fnsilade 
from  the  guards  convinced  them  that  such  experiments  were  far  from 
.safe.  They  discussed  many  plans  during  the  night,  which  were  over- 
heard by  the  imprisoned  guards  and  the  warden  and  his  wife.  One 
plan  was  to  go  out  to  the  gates  with  the  imprisoned  guards  in  front 
of  them,  and  another  was  to  secure  still  more  certain  immunity  from 
being  shot  by  forcing  Mrs.  Woodhurst  out  ahead  of  them.  These 
plans  were  abandoned,  however,  as  impracticable,  and  they  gradually 
lost  their  courage  and  hope  as  the  slow  hours  of  the  night  wore  away. 

About  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  Mrs.  Woodhurst  ap]ieared  at  the 
southwest  window  of  the  chapel,  much  to  the  relief  of  her  husband 
and  sons,  (who  were  separated  from  her  during  the  eventful  night,) as 
Avell  as  her  many  friends  among  the  citizens  before  the  walls.  She 
stated  that  she  thought  the  mutineers  could  be  persuaded  to  surrender 
to  her.  The  troops  were  making  preparations  to  enter  the  yard  and 
storm  the  building  occupied  by  the  mutineers,  but  before  they  started 
the  convicts  agreed  to  surrender  to  Mrs.  Woodhurst,  stipulating  only 
that  they  should  receive  no  excessive  punishment. 

The  coiidnct  of  Mrs.  AVoodhurst  through  all  that  trying  exi)erieuce 
is  spoken  of  with  the  highest  praise.  When  she  was  allowed  by  the 
convicts  to  go  to  her  own  room  and  stay  there,  she  made  her  way  to 
another  romii  whence  she  was  able  to  alarm  the  guards  on  the  walls, 
and  thus  prevent  them  from  coming  to  the  house,  where  they  would 
have  licen  captiired.  Her  behavior  was  marked  by  the  utmost  in- 
tn'i»iditv  ;iii(l  j)i'esence  of  mind   tlironghout  the  entire  night.      At  one 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  "  219 

time  she  secured  the  arms  of  the  mutineers,  hid  them  in  her  wardrobe, 
and  concealed  their  ammunition  in  a  bucket  of  water.  She  gave  them 
back  their  arms,  however,  when  they  began  to  batter  down  the  door 
of  the  wardrobe  where  she  had  concealed  them. 

Deputy  warden  Nobes  kept  the  promise  which  he  made  to  Warrell, 
the  convict  who  untied  him  when  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  stone  shop. 
On  April  5,  1 875,  Governor  Garber  granted  Warrell  a  full  pardon,  and 
the  deputy  had  the  pleasure  of  reciprocating  the  favor  done  him  at  a 
time  when  he  needed  it  desperately,  by  opening  the  prison  gates  and 
letting  the  convict  who  had  saved  him  step  out  into  the  world  a  free 
man. 

McWaters  was  a  restless,  irrepressible  character,  and,  not  discour- 
aged by  the  failure  of  this  revolt,  set  immediately  to  work  planning 
another.  The  plan  for  this  one  was  discovered  through  the  dropping 
of  a  note,  which  one  of  the  conspirators  had  written  to  another.  The 
attempt  was  to  be  made  on  the  26th  day  of  IMay.  Kolkow,  the 
keeper  of  the  wash-house,  was  to  be  killed.  The  deputy  warden  was 
then  to  be  disposed  of,  and  a  rush  for  liberty  made.  When  the  26th 
of  May  came  the  convicts  were  kept  in  the  main  building  all  after- 
noon. The  next  day  they  were  marched  out,  but  the  guards  were 
under  special  instructions  to  keep  a  close  lookout,  and  to  shoot  anv 
convict  who  made  any  suspicious  demonstration.  A  short  time  after 
the  convicts  had  gone  to  work,  John  Geary  was  granted  leave  to  go 
to  the  privy.  Just  as  he  was  returning  McAVaters  held  up  his  hand, 
and  was  given  permission  to  go.  He  met  Geary  just  under  the  guard's 
cage,  and  touching  him,  said  something.  The  guard  did  not  hear 
what  it  was,  but  the  fact  that  anything  was  said  was  warning  that 
something  was  wrong,  and  he  was  at  once  upon  the  alert.  When 
McWaters  stooped  and  picked  up  a  stone  and  made  a  motion  to  throw 
it  at  the  guard,  the  latter  fired.  McWaters  stood  upright  a  moment, 
without  making  any  outcry,  and  then  walked  forward  about  twenty 
feet,  where  he  was  caught  by  Cochran,  the  overseer.  The  blood  was 
gushing  from  the  carotid  artery,  and  within  a  few  seconds  from  the 
time  he  stasfo-ered  into  the  overseer's  arms,  he  died.  The  ball  from 
Hugh  Blauev's  gun  had  passed  through  McWaters's  left  jaw,  entered 
the  neck,  severed  the  carotid  artery,  passed  down  through  his  body, 
and  came  out  just  above  the  left  kidney. 

After  firing  upon  McWaters,  the  guard  immediately  re-cocked  his 


220  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

jfiin,  and  ordered  Geary  back  tt»  work,  lie  then  gave  the  alarm  by 
ringing  the  bell  in  the  yard,  and  those  in  the  warden's  and  deputy's 
rooms.  The  alarm  brought  out  the  warden  and  dejjuty,  and  after  the 
convicts  had  been  allowed  to  work  long  enough  for  the  excitement  to 
subside  somewhat,  they  were  marched  into  the  main  building  and  an 
extra  guard  set  over  them. 

!Mc Waters  was  not  the  only  one  of  the  mutineers  who  was  a  figure 
in  a  sul)se(|ucnt  tragedy,  (^uin  Bohanan's  term  expired  October  13, 
1877.  On  the  19th  of  February,  1882,  in  a  quarrel  with  James  Cook, 
at  Waverlv,  over  the  spelling  of  the  word  "pedlar,"  he  killed  Cook. 
He  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for  life,  but  after  serv- 
ing a  short  part  of  his  time,  he  succeeded  in  getting  a  new  trial.  The 
result  was  far  from  being  what  he  expected,  for  the  jury  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  murder  in  the  first  degree,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  be 
hanged. 

He  was  confined  in  the  Otoe  county  jail,  awaiting  some  further  ju- 
dicial proceedings,  his  case  having  been  appealed  to  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court;  but  on  the  22d  day  of  June,  1887,  he  escaped,  and 
has  since  succeeded  in  eluding  the  officers,  spurred  on  as  they  are  by 
a  heavy  reward. 

Bohanan  was  of  that  peculiar  temperament  that  either  could  not 
appreciate  disgrace  and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  his  situation,  or, 
appreciating  them,  could  not  be  depressed  by  them.  He  seemed  never 
to  allow  the  idea  of  escape  to  leave  his  mind.  An  incident  occurred 
during  his  second  trial  which  Mr.  Nobes  never  made  public,  because 
Bohanan's  attorneys  feared  it  might  prejudice  his  case.  AVhen  Nobes 
took  Bohanan  into  the  buggy  to  bring  him  to  the  city  for  trial,  he 
fastened  his  handcuffs  to  an  iron  in  the  buggy  seat.  When  about 
half  way  to  town  he  suddenly  discovered  that  Bohanan  had  taken  off* 
the  nut  which  held  the  iron,  and  was  almost  free.  As  the  team  was 
a  very  sj)iritcd  one,  the  situation  was  somewhat  critical.  I^ooking 
Bohanan  sternly  in  the  eye,  he  ordered  him  to  ])ut  the  nut  back,  which 
lie  did. 

"Now,"  said  Nobes,  "if  you  make  the  slightest  move  toward  get- 
ting away,  I  'II  kill   you." 

"  For  (iod's  sake,  Mr.  Nobes,  don't  shoot  me !"  exclaimed  Bohanan, 
who  saw  that  Nobes  was  a  good  deal  agitated,  and  evidently  feared 
that  he  might  conclude  to  act  as  executioner  without  further  delay. 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  221 

"Oh,  I  won't  shoot  you,"  replied  the  deputy;  "1  will  just  out 
your  heart  out." 

Bohanan  probably  believed  it,  for  he  made  no  further  attempt  at 
escaping. 

Elder,  who  was  also  one  of  the  mutineers,  went  to  Kansas  C.^ity 
after  his  term  expired.  "■  I  was  sitting  in  a  hotel  at  Kansas  City  one 
day,"  says  Mr.  Nobes,  "  when  somebody  tapped  me  on  the  shoulder 
and  spoke  to  me.  I  looked  up,  and  before  me  stood  Elder,  arrayed 
in  the  height  of  fashion  and  sporting  a  pair  of  eye-glasses  and  a  shiny 
silk  hat.  He  asked  me  if  I  had  been  to  breakfast.  I  told  him  that 
I  had,  and  he  said  he  would  see  me  after  he  had  breakfasted.  When 
he  came  out  he  asked  me  to  take  a  walk  with  hiai.  He  took  me  down 
town  to  a  good  office  building,  and  following  him  up  stairs,  I  found 
myself  in  an  elegantly-furnished  room,  the  windows  of  wdiich  pro- 
claimed that  it  belonged  to  '  Dr.  Elder.'  He  was  working  a  patent- 
medicine  fake,  and  was  making  plenty  of  money  and  flying  high.  He 
asked  me  not  to  give  him  away,  and  as  I  had  no  particular  reason  for 
doing  so,  I  left  him  to  practice  his  improved  style  of  villainy  undis- 
turbed." 

In  March,  1875,  L.  F.  Wyman  was  made  warden,  and  he  served 
until  October,  1877,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Henry  C.  Dawson, 
who  acted  in  that  capacity  until  September  7,  1880. 

C.  J.  Nobes  was  the  next  warden,  and  under  his  management,  which 
continued  for  six  and  one-half  years,  affairs  moved  very  smoothly ; 
the  discipline  of  the  prison  was  greatly  improved  and  its  sanitary  con- 
dition carefully  looked  after. 

Mr.  Nobes  was  succeeded  in  1887  by  E.  W.  Hyers,  who  held  the 
office  until  January  1,  1889,  when  he  resigned,  his  place  being  filled 
by  the  appointment  of  Dan  Hopkins,  who  is  the  present  warden. 
Mr.  Hopkins  seems  to  be  especially  fitted  for  the  place  he  holds,  as  is 
evidenced  by  the  continued  good  order  prevalent  at  the  penitentiary 
and  by  the  respect  with  which  he  is  treated  and  the  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held  by  the  prisoners.  Mr.  Hopkins  is  a  man  of  just  a  little 
over  forty-three  years  of  age,  having  been  born  August  30,  1846,  in 
Rush  ford,  Alleghaney  county,  N.  Y.  His  parents  both  came  from 
Vermont.  Mr.  Hopkins's  early  life  was  passed  quietly,  without  spe- 
cial incident  worthy  of  note.  He  lived  in  Alleghaney  county  until 
he  was  twelve  years  old,  when  his  parents  moved  to  Cataraugus  county. 


222  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

X.  Y.,  wIktc  he  finally  resided  until  1871,  or  until  Dan,  as  lie  is  fa- 
miliarly called,  was  twenty-five.  On  September  23,  1863,  Mr.  Hop- 
kins beino-  then  mider  the  age  rc<juired,  enlisted  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  to  help  fight  her  battles  and  throttle  the  treason  that  seemed 
for  a  time  to  have  a  death  grip  on  the  nation's  throat.  He  enlisted  in 
the  Ninth  New  York  Cavalry,  Col.  Xicholls  commanding.  This  reg- 
iment was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Shenandoah  valley,  in  the  Second 
Brigade  of  the  Cavalry  Corps  of  the  First  Division,  under  command  of 
Gen.  Merritt.  Gen.  Deven  was  in  command  of  the  division,  the  offi- 
cer of  Company  I,  Hopkins's  company,  being  Capt.  Putnam.  Mr. 
Hopkins  prides  himself  upon  the  fact  that  he  is  one  of  the  very  few  re- 
maining high  privates  who  now  survive  the  years  and  ravages  of  dis- 
ease. When  he  went  into  the  service  he  weighed  only  ninety  pounds, 
and,  of  course,  being  only  seventeen,  had  to  stretch  the  truth  one  year 
to  be  allowed  to  enlist;  but  like  a  good  many  other  boys  whose  patri- 
otism rose  with  danger,  this  little  prevarication  was  counted  as  nothing. 
\\'hat  he  wanted  was  to  get  a  shot  at  a  traitor,  and  the  end  justified 
the  means. 

Mr.  Hopkins's  battle  experiences  are  those  of  every  soldier  who 
fought  and  skirmished  with  the  enemy  up  and  down  the  beautiful 
Shenandoah  valley  from  1863  to  1865.  If  these  experiences  were 
rightly  written  they  would  make  a  volume  of  rare  interest — war, 
tragedy,  love,  adventure,  defeat,  and  victory,  all  mixed  together  in  one 
grand  plot.  He  was,  of  course,  in  Sheridan's  command,  but  was  not 
permitted  to  be  present  at  Lee's  surrender,  as  his  horse  had  been  con- 
demned and  he,  together  with  hundreds  of  others,  had  been  ordered 
Ijack  to  Remount  camp,  below  Harper's  Ferry,  as  a  guard  for  prison- 
ers taken  during  the  campaign,  and  to  get  a  fresh  mount.  After  the 
remount  he  went  back-  to  the  valley,  where  his  division  did  ]>atrol 
duty  to  the  end  of  the  war.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  at 
Winchester,  on  June  1,  1865,  having  staid  in  the  service  without  a 
wound  or  accident  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Returning  home  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock  buying  until  March  16,  1871,  when  he  married,  and  with  his 
bride  started  for  the  West.  Mrs.  Hopkins's  maiden  name  was  Mor- 
rill— Miss  Jeiniie  ^forrill — closely  connected  with  the  family  of 
Senator  ^Torrill,  of  N'ermont,  on  her  father's  side,  and  on  her  mother's 
>i(lc  witli  that  of  Secretary  Seward.      .Mr.  Hoi)kins  j)roceeded  direetly 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  223 

to  Lone  Tree,  now  Central  City,  where  he  took  a  homestead  .six  miles 
southwest  of  the  village,  perfecting  his  homestead  right  in  the  usual 
manner.  In  August,  1873,  during  the  trying  grasshopper  times,  he 
temporarily  abandoned  farming,  (as  did  many  Nebraska  farmers,  of 
necessity,) and  went  to  Wyoming  in  the  employ  of  the  Union  Pacific 
railway.  He  remained  in  the  employ  of  this  company,  holding  a  re- 
sponsible position,  until  December,  1875,  when,  with  his  lainily,  he 
went  back  to  New  York,  where  he  remained  only  a  year;  but  that  was 
long  enough  to  give  him  a  disastrous  experience  in  the  oil  countrv. 
In  December,  1876,  he  came  back  to  Nebraska,  a  wiser  if  not  a  sad- 
der man.  He  went  on  his  farm,  but  only  stayed  there  a  short  time, 
moving  soon  into  Central  City,  where  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Sher- 
iff'of  Merrick  county  in  1877,  which  place  he  held  for  two  years.  In 
1 879  he  was  elected  Sheriif,  and  again,  in  1881,  was  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple for  the  same  position.  In  1883,  on  retiring  from  office,  he  engaged 
in  the  implement  business  in  Central  City,  and  continued  that  two 
years.  But  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  accepted  a  flattering  offer  from 
the  Great  Northwestern  Stage  Company,  and  in  February,  1886,  went 
to  Denver,  the  company's  head(juarters,  as  Superintendent  of  that 
company's  lines  in  Wyoming  and  Colorado,  spending  a  considerable 
portion  of  his  time  traveling  over  the  routes  and  inspecting  the  lines. 

Until  March  15,  1887,  Mr.  Hopkins  remained  with  this  company, 
when  he  resigned  on  information  received  of  his  appointment  by  Gov- 
ernor Thayer  as  deputy  warden.  With  his  family  he  arrived  in 
Lincoln  April  1,  1887,  and  immediately  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  duties.  This  place  he  filled  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner  until 
the  resignation  of  Warden  Hyers,  on  January  1,1889,  when  Mr.  Hop- 
kins assumed  the  duties  of  warden,  on  appointment  of  Gov.  Thayer. 
Mr.  Hopkins  has  dispensed  with  the  office  of  deputy  warden,  V.  U. 
Heiner  acting  as  principal  keeper.     Elder  P.  M.  Howe  is  the  cliaplain. 

The  position  of  warden  in  the  Nebraska  penitentiary  is  a  difficult 
one  to  fill.  In  fact,  the  duties  of  warden  of  any  prison  require  gieat 
care,  judgment,  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  firmness,  and  yet  kind- 
ness. It  is  a  trying  place,  but  Mr.  Hopkins  has  shown  himself  pos- 
sessed of  these  qualifications  in  a  large  degree,  and  the  result  is  seen  in 
the  smoothness  with  which  affairs  within  the  walls  move. 

Mr.  Hopkins's  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  one  daughter,  Miss  Inez, 
now  in  her  sixteenth  year. 

By  the  act  providing  for  the  sale  of  the  unsold  hits  and  blacks  in 


224  HISTORY    OF    TIIK   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

J^iiK'olii,  aiul  the  erection  of  the  State  University,  the  Commissioners 
were  directed  to  h)eate,  on  or  near  the  site  of"  said  town,  a  site  for  a 
State  Lunatic  Asylum,  and  from  the  proceeds  of  such  sales  tlie  sum  of 
^;r)( ),()()()  was  appropriated  and  directed  to  be  expended,  under  the  su- 
pervision of  the  Commissioners,  in  the  erection,  upon  such  plan  as  they 
should  adopt,  of  the  necessary  building.  Accordingly,  a  site  containing 
about  160  acres,  and  situated  about  two  miles  southwest  of  the  site  of  the 
old  town  of  Lancaster,  was  set  apart  for  that  purpose;  and  after  hav- 
ing; issued  the  notices  required  by  laM',  and  having  adopted  the  plan 
of  Prof.  D.  Winchell,  an  architect  from  Chicago,  the  contract  for  the 
construction  of  tiie  building  was  let,  on  the  15th  day  of  August,  1869, 
to  Joseph  Ward,  also  formerly  of  Chicago,  who  stipulated  for  its  com- 
pletion on  or  before  the  first  day  of  December,  1870,  the  contract  price 
for  the  work  being  §128,000.  On  December  22,  1870,  the  asylum 
was  opened  for  the  reception  of  patients.  A  little  while  before  this  it 
was  set  on  fire,  near  the  roof,  but  the  flames  were  extinguished  before 
much  damage  was  done.  Dr.  Larsh,  of  Nebraska  City,  was  appointed 
the  first  Superintendent,  and  had  twenty-six  patients  when  he  took 
charge.  On  the  night  of  April  18,  1871,  the  building  was  burned  to 
the  ground.  Whether  set  on  fire,  or  ignited  by  a  defective  flue,  has 
not  been  determined.  Two  or  three  of  the  insane  persons  at  the  time 
in  the  building  were  burned  to  death.  The  city  of  Lincoln  made  tem- 
porary arrangements  to  accomniodate  the  patients  thus  rendered  home- 
less, advancing  §4,500  for  that  purpose.  This  sum  was  afterward 
repaid  by  the  State. 

The  burned  asylum  building  had  been  insured  for  $96,000.  The 
insurance  companies  took  their  option  and  rebuilt  the  building,  the 
contract  ])rice  being  $71,999.98.  William  H.  Foster,  of  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  was  the  architect  of  the  second  building,  atid  R,  D,  Silvers  the 
contractor  for  the  erection  of  the  main  building  and  one  M'ing.  The 
contract  called  for  a  facing  of  limestone  ashlar,  rough  flnish,  but  this 
was  changed  later  on  to  Carroll  county  (Missouri)  sandstone,  with 
rubble-work  finish  and  rustic  joints.  It  was  finished  on  October  2, 
1872, 

The  building  was  crowded  as  soon  as  completed,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1875  a[)i)ropriated  $25,000  for  an  additional  wing,  which  was 
at  once  erected,  under  the  supervision  of  the  trustees.  Three  more 
wings  have  been  added  since  that  time,  which,  with  kitchen,  boiler- 
bouse,  and  other  improvements,  have  cost  in  the  aggregate  $196,618, 


STATE    INSTITUTIONS.  225 

and  the  plant  had  cost,  on  January  1,  1889,  as  estimated  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  the  sum  of  $272,413.  The  asyhun  is  credited  with 
additional  property  valued  at  $70,668.05. 

On  February  5,  1889,  one  of  the  boilers  in  the  boiler-house  of  the 
asylum  exploded,  killino;  one  engineer  and  two  patients,  and  wrecking 
the  boiler-house.  The  Legislature  was  then  in  session,  and  an  inves- 
tigation indicated  incompetency  in  the  engineers.  An  appropriation 
was  made  at  once  for  rebuilding  the  boiler-house,  and  the  work  has 
been  completed. 

The  present  number  of  patients  is  nearly  400,  and  the  average 
weekly  expense  of  their  maintenance  was  $4.66  per  capita  during  1887 
and  the  first  eleven  months  of  1888. 

The  institution  is  now  under  the  management  of  Superintendent 
W.  M.  Knapp,  M.D.,  with  Dr.  J.  T.  Hay  as  first  and  Dr.  Miss 
Helen  B.  Odelson  as  second  assistant  physician.  Mr.  J.  Dan.  Lauer 
is  the  steward,  to  whose  management  is  due  much  of  the  financial  suc- 
cess of  the  institution,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Magoon,  the  matron. 

The  State  Legislature,  by  an  act  of  February  28,  1881,  established 
a  Home  for  the  Friendless,  to  be  controlled  by  the  Board  of  Lands 
and  Buildings,  at  or  near  the  town  making  the  largest  donation  for 
the  Home.  Lincoln  contributed  $2,050,  and  secured  the  institution, 
and  the  State  expended  the  S5,000  appropriation  in  buildings  and 
grounds.  The  Legislature  of  1883  appropriated  $2,000,  that  of  1 885 
$10,000,  and  the  session  of  1887  $11,895.30,  making  the  cost  of  the 
plant,  to  date,  $28,895.30.  The  Home  has  other  property  valued  at 
$5,988.80. 

The  Home  is  supported  in  part  by  benevolent  contributions  from 
generous  people,  and  is  managed  by  the  Society  for  the  Home  for  the 
Friendless,  a  band  of  women  organized  about  fifteen  years  ago,  and 
since  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  and  subject  to  a  general 
control  of  the  State  Board  of  Lands  and  Buildings.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  commendable  charities  in  the  State,  and  the  ladies  at  its  head  de- 
serve the  highest  praise  for  their  practical  work  in  the  cause  of  hu- 
manity. 

The  Home  now  maintains  about  100  children,  some  of  them  infants 
but  a  few  days  old.  Good  homes  with  families  are  found  for  these 
children  as  fast  as  possible.  The  Home  is  now  under  the  immediate 
management  of  Mrs.  A.  B.  Slaughter,  Superintendent ;  Miss  Alice 
Huff,  Physician ;  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Moore,  Matron. 


226  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHArXER  XVII. 

LixcoLN's  Educational  Institutions— Hek  Public  Schools— Earlt 
Times — The  Wonderful  Growth  Noticed — The  Number  of 
School  Buildings  and  Teachers,  and  the  Annual  Cost  of  Con- 
ducting the  Work — The  Higher  Institutions  of  Learning  — 
Other   Schools. 

The  schools  of  Nebraska  have  closely  followed  the  earliest  settle- 
ment of  the  State.  This  was  true  of  Lancaster,  which  became  Lin- 
coln. In  fact,  Elder  Young's  Lancaster  Seminary  Association  came- 
to  this  region  for  the  very  purpose  of  founding  a  school,  and  a  female 
seminary  at  that. 

The ''Lancaster  Colony"  laid  out  "District  No.  1"  in  the  latter 
j)art  of  18G4,  the  same  year  that  Lancaster  was  platted.  This  dis- 
trict was  six  miles  square.  The  first  board  of  directors  were  Jacob 
Dawson,  John  M.  Young,  and  Milton  Langdon.  The  following  year, 
1865,  District  No.  2  was  organized  at  Yankee  Hill,  with  John  Cad- 
man,  W.  R.  Field,  and  AV.  T.  Donovan,  as  directors.  In  this  district, 
in  the  dugout  home  of  John  Cadman,  not  far  from  where  the  Insane- 
Asylum  now  is,  one  of  the  first  schools  in  this  vicinity,  and  probably 
in  tlie  county,  was  taught,  in  the  w^inter  of  1865-6,  by  Robert  F. 
Thurston,  with  about  fifteen  scholars  in  attendance.  Judge  A.  W. 
Field  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  J.  E.  Pliilpott,  four  of  Cadman's  children, 
three  of  Donovan's,  and  others,  were  pupils  in  this  school.  It  is 
j)roba1jle  that  a  school  was  in  progress  at  the  same  time  at  Saltillo. 
Probaljly  late  in  18(j6  the  Stone  Seminary  was  so  far  coiin)leted  in 
Lancaster  that  it  was  decided  to  open  a  school  in  one  room  in  this 
building,  which  occu])icd  the  ground  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Ninth 
and  P  streets,  where  the  tState  Journal  block  now  stands.  The  in- 
terior of  the  building  was  not  finished  by  any  means.  In  fact,  but  one 
room  was  in  condition  to  u.se,  and  carpets  and  other  cloths  had  to  be 
hung  up  to  keep  the  wind  out  and  make  the  place  tenable.  There 
was  no  fioor  {■xcej)t  the  ground,  and  the  partitions  were  merely  lathed 
up.      Here,  liowcvcr,  Mr.  11.  W.  Mcn-ill  conducted  the  first  school  in 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  227 

Lancaster,  in  the  latter  part  of  1866,  The  term  concluded  with  an 
"exhibition.''  About  thirty  pupils  attended  this  school  of  twenty- 
three  years  ago.  Early  in  1807  Mrs.  H.  W.  Merrill  taught  a  term 
of  school  in  the  stone  seminary.  She  was  a  lady  of  a  good  deal  of 
culture,  being  possessed  of  a  good  academic  education  and  could  sing 
well  besides.  The  directors  were  anxious  to  find  a  teacher,  and  urged 
Mrs.  Merrill  to  take  the  school.  She  said  it  would  be  impossible,  as 
she  had  a  baby  only  about  a  year  old.  The  directors  told  her  to  take 
it  to  school  with  her,  and  to  this  arrangement  she  finally  consented. 
So  Mrs.  Merrill  labored  with  the  youth  of  Lancaster  with  a  baby  in 
her  arms  part  of  the  time.  She  lived  in  one  end  of  the  building,  and 
John  Montieth  had  a  shoe  shop  in  another  part.  Rooms  were  scarce  in 
those  days.  During  her  term,  just  after  an  old-fashioned  spelling 
school,  the  stone  seminary  caught  fire  from  a  misconstructed  flue,  and 
the  woodwork  of  the  building  burned  to  the  ground.  That  was  the 
last  of  the  stone  seminary  as  an  educational  institution.  The  walls 
stood  there  until  the  fall  of  1867,  when  John  Cadman  rebuilt  the 
woodwork  and  opened  the  "Cadman  House." 

In  the  fall  of  1807,  soon  after  the  first  sale  of  lots,  the  directors  of 
the  district  caused  a  small  stone  school  house  to  be  erected  near  the 
northeast  corner  of  Q  and  Eleventh  streets.  In  this,  during  the  fall 
of  1807,  Mr.  George  W.  Peck  taught  the  first  school  in  the  town 
after  it  became  Lincoln.  Mr.  Peck  still  resides  in  the  city.  His 
average  attendance  was  about  thirty-five  pupils.  In  the  winter  of 
1808-9  school  was  continued  in  the  stone  school  house,  with  Prof. 
James  as  teacher.  The  attendance  had  grow^n  to  about  sixty- 
five,  and  the  directors  then  bought  the  -Methodist  church,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Q  and  Tenth  streets,  and  divided  the  school,  and 
instruction  was  begun  on  May  5,  1809,  in  both  places,  with  T.  L. 
Catlin  teacher  in  the  church.  Both  schools  were  well  attended.  The 
stone  school  house  became  a  town  jail  about  1873,  and  the  old  Meth- 
odist church  continued  a  school  house  until  the  present  summer  of 
1889,  being  known  first  as  the  South  School  House,  and  for  years 
past  as  the  "J  Street  School."  It  stood  near  the  northeast  corner  (.f 
Eighth  and  J  streets,  and  was  removed  during  the  present  summer. 

During  the  spring  of  1809,  Miss  Griswold,  afterward  Mrs.  S.  B- 
Galey,  taught  a  select  school.  In  1870  the  schools  had  grown  to 
three,  and  the  following  spring  the  question  of  bonding  the  district 


228  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

for  §50,000  of  ten  per  cent  bonds,  to  build  a  "high-school  building," 
began  to  be  discussed.  Finally,  on  the  17th  day  of  June,  1871,  an 
election  was  held  at  the  "White  School  House"  to  vote  on  the  bond 
4|uestion.  At  this  election  Messrs.  C.  M.  Parker,  W.  A.  Colman,  and 
B.  AV.  Ballard,  were  judges,  and  211  voters  were  out,  of  which  151 
Mere  for  bonding  the  district  and  sixty  against.  We  find  on  the 
polling  list  of  this  election  such  familiar  names  as  R.  E.  Moore,  C. 
M.  Parker,  R.  P.  Beecher,  Geo.  B.  Skinner,  T.  H.  Hyde,  W.  J.  Hyatt, 
J.  K.  Philpott,  L.  E.  Cropsey,  H.  J.  Walsh,  John  McConnell,  P.  Way, 
T.  P.  (^uick,  Amasa  Cobb,  D.  B.  Cropsey,  D.  L.  Peckham,  A. 
Humphrey,  P.  H.  Cooper,  C.  M.  Leighton,  A.  M.  Davis,  G.  Ensign, 
John  McManigal,  J.  H.  Ames,  and  J.  P.  Hebard. 

On  August  19th  an  election  was  held  to  determine  the  location  of 
the  ])roposed  !i>50,0()0  high-school  building.  There  were  three  sites 
before  the  election  from  which  to  choose.  One  was  block  sixty-three, 
where  the  high  school  now  is,  between  streets  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth, 
and  M  and  N;  another  was  block  155,  bounded  by  F  and  G  and  Fif- 
teenth and  Sixteenth  ;  and  the  third  was  block  120,  bounded  by  J  and 
K  and  Eleventh  and  Twelfth.  There  were  235  votes  cast,  of  which 
185  votes  were  cast  for  block  sixty -three,  thirty-two  votes  were  cast 
for  block  155,  and  eighteen  votes  for  block  120.  So  block  sixty -three 
won  the  location.  The  board  this  year  was  composed  of  Philetus 
Peck,  Moderator ;  S.  J.  Tuttle,  A.  L.  Palmer,  John  Lamb,  A.  L. 
Pound,  and  W.  T.  Donovan.  Palmer  or  Tuttle  acted  as  secretary  of 
the  meetings  for  several  years  after  this. 

On  September  9th  the  board  held  a  meeting,  and  "  Elder  Lamb 
was  authorized  to  answer  the  Citizens'  Bank  at  Sidney,  Ohio,  that 
they  could  have  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  bonds  at  90  cents  on  the 
dollar."  The  same  meeting  records  that  Mr.  Lamb  was  appointed 
*'  to  procure  a  strip  of  breaking  for  shade  trees  and  to  save  the  build- 
ing from  fire."  Some  of  those  shade  trees  can  now  be  seen  around 
the  high  school  block,  and  it  would  be  difficult  for  a  prairie  fire  to  get 
at  the  building  at  the  present  time.  Mr.  Palmer  also  records  that  the 
board  ordered  a  "  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary  and  Lippincott's 
Gazette,"  probably  meaning  Gazetteer. 

Oil  J)('cembcr  2:J,  1871,  the  board  adopted  the  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  the  new  school  house  oifered  by  Roberts  tt  Boulangcr,  at  a 
cost  of  |1,.300,  the  architects  to  superintend  the  work.     On  February 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  229' 

]5,  1872,  the  board  decided  to  advertise  for  bids  on  the  construction 
of  the  high-school  building,  to  be  completed  by  September  1,  1872. 
On  March  11th  the  V)id  of  Moore  &  Krone  for  doinp-  all  the  brick, 
stone,  iron,  and  masonry  work  on  the  house,  was  accepted.  Also  Mr. 
Parcell's  bid  to  do  the  carpenter  work  for  §12,300  was  approved. 
Parcell  was  of  the  firm  of  Parcell  &  Dehart.  The  stone,  brick  work, 
etc.,  were  to  cost  $30,760,  or  the  building,  finished,  $43,060.  The 
contractors  were  to  give  bond  on  or  before  March  18th.  On  the  1st 
of  April,  1872,  S.  J.  Tuttle  was  reelected  to  the  board  and  J.  M. 
Jamison  in  place  of  A.  L.  Pound,  after  a  hot  fight  to  prevent  Jam- 
ison &  Stout  from  getting  the  school-house  contract. 

On  June  11,  1872,  J.  W.  Cassell  was  employed  as  Superintendent 
of  the  city  schools  for  the  ensuing  year,  at  a  salary  of  $1,400  per  year. 
Probably  a  corps  of  seven  teachers  served  with  him,  at  "the  Stone 
School  House,"  the  stone  church,  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Twelfth 
and  J  streets,  the  "South  School  House,"  and  the  new  high-school 
building,  during  1872-3. 

On  September  26  the  board  authorized  the  erection  of  "a  suitable 
number  of  lightning  rods"  on  the  new  building.  But  the  carpenters 
working  on  the  structure  dragged  along,  and  it  was  not  completed 
until  the  first  of  January,  1873.  Then,  on  January  9th,  arrangements 
were  made  by  the  board  to  occupy  the  new  school  house,  and  abandon 
the  old  stone  school  house  near  Eleventh  and  Q. 

From  this  time  the  real  prosperity  of  the  city  schools  dates.  New- 
maps  and  charts  were  ordered.  The  German  language  was  ordered 
taught  in  the  new  building,  on  January  9,  1873.  The  school  had  a 
bell,  a  janitor,  and  Prof  Leland  was  employed  to  teach  music  at  a 
salary  of  $10  per  month. 

On  February  6,  1873,  we  find  the  board  allowing  the  following  bills 
to  teachers  for  one  month  past : 

Miss  E.  P.  Rockwood $65  00       Miss  Priscilla  Nicholson $50  00 

Miss  Jennie  Eoberts 60  00       Miss  Mary  Sessions 50  00 

MissS.  G.Lamb 60  00       Alice  Roberts 37  50 

Mrs.  A.  S.  Newcomer 60  00       M.  A.  Whyman 26  25 

Mrs.  E.  Mollie  Powers 55  00      Supt.  .L  W.  Cassell 140  00 

Miss  Hortense  D.  Street 55  00       Geo.  B.Holmes 41  25 

Miss  Emma  Williams 41  25       J.  Holdegroff. 33  75 

Miss  May  Bostater 55  00   i 

In   September,  1874,  Prof  W.  W.  W.  Jones   took  charge  of  the 


230  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

schools  as  superintendent,  ami  occupied  that  position  until  about  the 
close  of  the  year  of  1880,  when  Prof.  S.  R.  Thompson  became  superin- 
tendent, with  a  corps  of  over  twenty  teachers.  He  was  followed  by 
Prof.  J.  M.  Scott,  who  held  the  place  until  June,  188.3.  District  No. 
1,  Lancaster  county,  had,  some  time  before  this,  become  the  School 
District  of  Lincoln. 

Of  late  years  the  schools  have  made  rapid  strides  in  every  respect, 
as  the  subjoined  exhibit  of  facts  and  figures  showing  the  status  of  the 
schools  of  to-day  will  demonstrate.  In  brief,  the  schools  of  Lincoln 
exhibit  superior  development  for  a  city  so  young.  A  most  wonderful 
growth  lias  taken  place  in  the  last  ten  years,  and  the  methods  of  work 
have  kept  even  pace  with  the  growth  in  numbers.  To  Supt.  E.  T. 
Hartley,  who  has  had  charge  of  the  schools  for  the  past  seven  years, 
is  due  very  much  of  the  splendid  condition  in  which  they  are  to-day. 
Prof.  Hartley  is  a  man  of  wonderful  energy,  great  tact,  thorough  busi- 
ness methods,  and  liberal  education,  and  these  qualifications,  to  which 
must  be  added  his  great  love  for  the  work,  make  him  a  man  peculiarly 
qualified  for  the  place  he  holds. 

The  number  of  school  buildings  has  grown  to  sixteen,  with  rooms 
for  ninety  schools,  and  possessing  a  seating  capacity  for  5,000  pupils. 
Tiie  total  enrollment  for  the  past  year  was  4,748,  of  whom  2,375  were 
boys,  and  2,373  were  girls.  It  required  over  eighty  teachers  to  instruct 
these  five  regiments  of  pupils.  Tiie  total  amount  of  money  paid  out 
for  the  support  of  the  city  public  schools  for  tiie  year  ending  July  8, 
1889,  was  S98,451,  of  which  sum  $43,175  was  disbursed  for  teachers' 
salaries. 

The  elementary  schools  cover  eight  years  of  work,  and  have  been 
arranged  in  sixteen  grades.  All  the  common-school  branches  are  com- 
pleted in  the  eight  years,  including  United  States  history,  an  eight 
years'  course  in  music  and  drawing,  temperance  hygiene,  and  four 
years  oral  instruction  in  English  language  preparatory  to  the  syste- 
matic study  of  grammar. 

The  high  scliool  curriculum  comprises  four  parallel  courses  of  three 
years  each,  tlie  English,  tlic  Latin,  tiie  (German,  and  the  Classical. 
These  courses  inchide  instruction  in  algebra,  book-keeping,  geometry, 
botany,  human  jihysiology,  physical  geography,  chemistry,  physics, 
geology,  English  (•oiiij)ositioii,  word  analysis,  technical  grammar,  or- 
thoepy, elocution,  history  and  (k'veloj)ment  of  English  literature,  rhet- 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIOiNS. 


231 


oric,  political  economy,  civil  ^government,  elements  of  commercial 
law,  general  history,  three  years  each  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  German. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  public  schools  furnish  a  good  practical  educa- 
tion, well  rounded  out,  even  if  the  pupils  do  not  go  to  college,  and  if 
they  expect  to  enter  a  higher  institution,  they  are  prepared  to  do  so. 

The  work  of  the  High  School  is  arranged  in  departments,  and  em- 
ploys nine  instructors.  Special  reference  libraries  are  supplied  for  the 
departments  nf  history  and  English  literature,  and  a  working  lab- 
oratory in  chemistry  and  physics  is  provided,  enabling  pupils  to  per- 
form their  own  experiments.  The  department  of  physiology  is  well 
■equipped  with  fine  skeletons  and  a  series  of  plaster  and  papier-mache 
models.  In  addition  to  the  general  reference  library,  each  department 
lias  a  special  library.  A  feature  of  the  Lincoln  schools  is  a  circulat- 
ing library,  from  which  the  pupils  made  35,510  loans  last  year,  a  re- 
markable record  considering  the  other  public  and  private  libraries  of 
the  city. 

The  corps  of  teachers  of  the  city  schools  for  1888-89  is  as  follows: 

E.  T.  Hartley,  M.  A Superintendent. 

H.  S.   Bowers Assistant  Superintendent. 

J.  C.  Miller Special  Instructor  in  Music. 


CENTRAL  BUILDING — HIGH   SCHOOL. 

S.  P.  Barrett,  M.  A.,  Principal, 

Mathematics. 
Lawrence  Fossler,  B.  S., 

German  and  Biology. 
<Jeo.  B.  Frankforter,  M.  A., 

Chemistry  and  Physics. 
Marian  Kingsley,  B.  A., 

Rhetoric  and  English  Literature. 
Mary  M.  Pitcher,  M.  A., 

Latin  and  Greek. 
Mina  F.  Metcalf,  M.  A., 

General  History. 
Mate  Treeman,  B.  S. 

History  and  Civil  Government. 

ELEBIENTAEY   SCHOOLS. 

Louise  Adams. 
Mrs.  Marie  Fielding. 
Ella  Kaufman. 
Beth  Brenizer. 
Ella  Couard. 


Flora  A.  Beecher. 
Ina  Fay  Risely. 
Lulu  Sumner. 
Mrs.  S.  N.  Franklin. 

T  STEEET  SCHOOL. 
G.  W.  McKinnon,  Principal. 
Dora  M.  Neihardt. 
Mrs.  Mary  McKinnon. 
Frances  Duncombe. 
Helen  W.  Chapin. 
Clara  Pettigrew. 
Eva  Lamb. 
Lillian  Upham. 
Mrs.  Lulu  Wilson. 
Susie  Hoagland. 

Q   STREET  SCHOOL. 

Anna  Shuckman,  Principal. 

Alia  Lantz. 

Lena  Smith. 

Mrs.  Hattie  Musselman. 

Lizzie  C.  Jones. 


232 


HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 


Etta  Krb. 

Mrs.  Lizzie  Gleason. 
Dora  Brooks. 
Jennie  Cole. 
Ottie  Rathbun. 
Jennie  Marine. 

CAPITOL  SCHOOL. 
Mrs.  A.  P.  Tiffiiny,  Principal. 
Mrs.  Jeannie  Hard. 
Mrs.  Emma  K.  Cropsey. 
Bertha  McCorkle. 
Kate  Folsom,  (^Mrs.  Ralston.) 
Seba  Dewell. 
Mrs.  L.  H.  Davis. 
Mara  L.  Byam. 
Alice  Todd. 
Sarah  Riley. 
Mrs.  Emmeline  Tucker. 
Louise  Tucker. 

C   STEEET  SCHOOL. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bowen,  Principal. 

Mary  Stevens. 

Manie  Sawyer. 

Mrs.  Abbie  Chamberlain. 

Edna  Scott. 

Emma  Smith. 

Jessie  Love. 

Mrs.  T.  E.  Hardenburg.  (Died  July  24, 

1889.) 
S.  Alice  Lease. 
Gertrude  Aitken. 


PARK   SCHOOL. 
Cora  Hardy,  Principal. 
Edith  Long. 
Ada  Buck. 
Mrs.  Anna  R.  King. 
Lydia  Welch. 
Minnie  Welch. 
Emma  Bing. 
Sallie  Cox. 
Lottie  Eckhardt. 

ELLIOTT  SCHOOL. 
Mrs.  Emma  W.  Edwards,  Principal. 
Alice  Russell. 
Lutie  Thomas. 
Nettie  Taylor. 
Laura  Roberts. 
Medora  Smith. 
Alice  Cronley. 
Sarah  Shea. 
Alice  Orr. 

OUTLYING   SCHOOLS. 
J.  Oliver. 
Kate  Stoddard. 
Margaret  Pryse. 
J.  C.  Pentzer. 
May  Taggart. 
Genia  Stillman. 
Orra  Reeder. 
Mary  Dolan. 
Lizzie  Bond. 
Olive  Roberts. 


The  board  of  education  is  composed  as  follows 


J.  A.  Wallingford, 

President. 
W.  W.  W.  Jones, 
]'ice  President 
A.  G.  Greenlee, 

Secretary. 


Miss  Phoebe  Elliott. 
Lewis  Gregory. 
W.  J.  Marshall. 
Sam  D.  Cox. 
W.  A.  Lindley. 
O.  E.  Goodell. 


The  instruction  for  1889-90  will  be  under  the  direction  of  the  fol- 
lowing officials: 

E.  T.  Hartley Siq)crintcndent. 

Burr  Lewis Principal  of  High  School. 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  233 


PRINCIPALS  OF   WARD  SCHOOLS. 


Mrs.  A.  P.  Tiffany,  Capitol. 
Miss  Anna  Shnckman,  Q  Street. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bowen,  C  Street. 
Mrs.  Emma  W.  Edwards,  Elliott. 
Miss  Cora  Hardy,  Park. 
Miss  Alice  Russell,  T  Street. 


Mrs.  Jeanie  Hard,  Cherry  Street. 
Miss  Jennie  Marine, 

Special  Instructor  in  J'ocal  Music. 
Miss  Lydia  Welsh, 

Special  Instructor  in  Penmanship  and 
Drawing. 


A  notable  feature  of  the  high  school  is  a  series  of  lectures  on  sub- 
jects directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  the  course  of  study,  given 
by  persons  prominent  in  educational  circles,  and  occurring  once  or 
twice  per  week  thronghout  the  year.  Among  the  lecturers  have  been 
the  Governor  of  Nebraska,  and  other  State  officers,  the  Chancellor 
and  other  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  State  University,  lawyers, 
ministers  and  physicians  of  Lincoln,  and  the  instructors  of  the  high 
school. 

THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY. 

The  high  standard  of  general  intelligence  which  has  made  Ne- 
braska able  to  boast  of  having  a  less  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  her 
citizens  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  is  as  old  as  the  settlement 
of  the  Territory.  The  founding  of  the  present  State  University  came 
through  a  process  of  evolution.  To  fonnd  a  university  seems  to  have 
been  the  highest  ambition  of  many  of  Nebraska's  earliest  politicians, 
and  to  become  the  home  of  a  great  educational  institution,  the  goal 
for  which  nearly  all  of  her  earliest  towns  strove  earnestly  and  well. 

In  the  first  session  of  the  Legislature  charters  were  granted  to  Ne- 
braska University,  located  at  Fontanelle ;  Simpson  University,  located 
at  Omaha  city,  and  the  Nebraska  City  Collegiate  and  Preparatory 
Institute,  located  at  Nebraska  City.  In  the  next  session  Simpson 
University  asked  for  a  renewal  of  its  charter,  and  charters  were 
granted  to  the  Nemaha  University,  at  Archer;  Washington  College, 
at  Cuming  City;  the  Plattsmouth  Preparatory  and  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute, and  the  Western  University,  at  Cassville.  In  the  third  session 
the  Legislature  added  to  the  list  the  Brownville  College  and  Lyceum, 
the  Salem  Collegiate  Institute,  the  Rock  Bluif  Academy,  the  Dakota 
Collegiate  Institute,  the  Nebraska  University  at  AVyoming,  the  Omaha 
Collegiate  Institute,  St.  Mary's  Female  Academy,  the  University  of 
St.  John,  the  Omaha  Medical  University,  and  amended  the  charter  of 
the  Western  University.  In  the  fall  session  of  the  same  year  char- 
ters were  granted  to  the  University  of  Nebraska,  Wyoming  College^ 
16 


234 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


De^^'itt  Colleoiate  Institute,  Falls  City  College,  the  Literary  Associa- 
tion of  the  Elkhorn,  the  Dodge  County  Lyceum  and  Literary  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  State  Historical  Society.  In  185S  Dempster  Biblical 
Institute  and  the  Lewis  and  Clark  College  Avere  chartered. 

There  was  a  general  impression  that  the  chartering  of  universities 
Avas  a  good  thing,  and  the  Legislatures  of  those  early  days  had  a  blank 
form  of  charter  which  became  a  bill  for  the  creation  of  a  university, 
readv  for  introduction  as  soon  as  the  name  of  the  prospective  institu- 
tion was  inserted. 


TlIK   STATE    UNIVKIiSITY. 


In  a  very  complete  paper  on  the  university,  read  by  Professor  H, 
W.  Caldwell  before  the  State  Historical  Society  at  its  1889  meeting, 
and  from  which  the  foregoing  facts  have  been  taken,  it  is  recorded  that 
the  bill  organizing  the  University  of  Nebraska  Avas  introduced  into 
the  Senate  February  11,  1869,  by  Mr.  Cunningham,  of  llichardson 
county.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education,  of  which 
Hon.  C.  H.  Cere  was  chairman,  and  was  reported  back  the  next  day, 
with  amendments,  and  passed.  It  was  passed  by  the  House  and 
signed  on  the  loth,  having  become  a  law  within  four  days  from  its 


EDUCATIONAL   INSTITUTIONS.  235 

introduction.  A  bill  was  passed  about  the  same  time  in  the  session, 
providing  for  the  sale  of  unsold  lots  and  blocks  in  the  town  site  of 
Lincoln,  and  for  the  erection  and  location  of  a  State  Lunatic  Asylum 
and  a  State  University  and  Agricultural  College ;  and  as  an  illustration 
of  the  jealous  care  witli  which  the  State's  educational  interests  have 
always  been  guarded,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  February  12th  the 
bill  was  amended,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Tullis,  of  Lancaster,  by  striking 
out  the  words,  "lunatic  asylum"  before  the  words,  "university"  etc., 
and  inserting  them  after  those  words.  The  original  charter  of  the 
university  provided  for  a  board  of  twelve  regents.  Nine  of  these 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  Legislature  in  joint  session,  three  from  each 
judicial  district,  and  the  Chancellor,  Superintendent  of  Public  Li- 
struction,  and  Governor,  were  made  ex-ojtcio  members  of  the  board. 
In  1875  an  amendment  was  passed  providing  that  the  Chancellor 
should  not  thereafter  be  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  and  at  the 
same  time  provision  was  made  against  an  increase  of  the  number  of 
regents  by  an  increase  in  the  number  of  judicial  districts.  The  con- 
stitution of  1875  creates  a  board  of  six  regents,  to  be  elected  by  a 
direct  vote  of  the  people. 

The  charter  of  the  university  provides  for  five  colleges,  viz:  A 
college  of  literature,  the  sciences  and  arts;  a  college  of  law;  a  college 
of  medicine ;  a  college  of  agriculture  and  the  practical  sciences ;  and  a 
college  of  fine  arts.  The  contract  for  the  erection  of  the  building  was 
let  August  18,  1869,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  September  23d,  the 
building  was  accepted  January  6,  1871,  and  the  university  was  opened 
with  an  enrollment  of  about  ninety  students  January  6,  1871.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  with  Masonic  ceremonies.  "Major  D.  H. 
Wheeler,"  says  Mr.  Caldwell's  paper,  was  master  of  ceremonies.  A 
brass  band  from  Omaha  headed  the  procession.  In  the  evening  a 
grand  banquet  was  given,  Governor  Butler  made  a  few  remarks,  Mr. 
Wheeler  a  short  speech,  then  Attorney  General  Seth  Robinson  gave 
an  address  on  "Popular  Education."  There  was  a  banquet  attended 
by  a  thousand  people,  and  dancing  was  indulged  in  from  ten  till  four 
o'clock. 

The  record  of  the  doubts  and  fears  of  the  Board  of  Regents  and 
citizens  of  Lincoln  as  to  the  safety  of  the  university  building,  forms 
an  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  Before  the 
doors  were  even  opened  to  students  the  rumor  gained  currency  that 


RESIDENCE  OE   HOX.  A.   J.  SAWYER. 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  237 

the  building  was  unsafe,  and  in  June,  1871,  three  professional  archi- 
tects were  secured  to  examine  it.  They  reported  that  it  was  safe  for 
the  time  being,  and  that  a  few  inexpensive  repairs  would  render  it  safe 
beyond  a  doubt  for  years  to  come.  The  repairs  were  made  and  the 
university  opened.  In  March,  1883,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  re- 
gents, a  report  was  received  from  another  set  of  architects,  and  a  new 
foundation  was  ordered  put  under  the  chapel,  and  this  was  done. 
June  26,  1877,  the  Chancellor  in  his  report  called  the  attention  of  the 
board  to  the  condition  of  the  building.  This  time  four  architects  were 
employed  —  one  from  Omaha,  one  from  Nebraska  City,  and  two  from 
Lincoln,  and  on  the  strength  of  their  report  the  regents  resolved,  July 
6,  1877,  to  tear  down  the  building  and  erect  a  new  one  at  a  cost  of 
$60,000,  $40,000  to  be  raised  by  the  citizens  of  Lincoln,  and  work 
was  to  commence  immediately  on  securing  the  above  amount.  The 
citizens  of  Lincoln  were  not  satisfied,  and  sent  to  Chicago  and  Dubuque 
for  architects,  who  examined  the  building  and  pronounced  it  easily 
repaired.  August  15th  a  committee  of  Lincoln  citizens  met  the  re- 
gents, and  upon  the  new  light  presented  by  them,  the  resolution  to 
tear  down  was  reconsidered,  and  a  new  foundation  and  other  repairs 
were  ordered,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  citizens  of  Lincoln.  The  repairs 
were  made  at  a  cost  of  S6,012.  Various  attempts  have  been  made  to 
secure  an  appropriation  to  reimburse  the  citizens  of  Lincoln  for  this 
expense,  but  all  have  failed. 

Mr.  Caldwell's  paper  states  that  on  June  3,  1869,  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Regents  C.  S.  Chase,  Supt.  Beals,  and  Rev.  D.  R.  Dungan, 
Avas  appointed  to  secure  names  of  suitable  persons  for  Chancellor.  Jan- 
uary 6, 1870,  the  salary  of  the  Chancellor  was  fixed  at  $5,000,  and  A. 
R.  Benton  was  selected  on  the  second  ballot.  H.  S.  Tappin,  J.  D.  But- 
ler, E.  B.  Fairfield,  and  A.  Barns,  each  received  one  vote  on  the  first 
ballot.  The  next  year  the  Chancellor's  salary  was  reduced  to  |4,000 
and  the  salaries  of  professors  fixed  at  $2,000.  The  first  faculty  was 
elected  April  4,  1871,  as  follows:  Ancient  Languages,  A.  H.  Manley ; 
Mathematics,  H.  E.  Hitchcock;  English  Literature,  O.  C.  Dake; 
Sciences,  H.  W.  Kuhn,  who  declined  and  recommended  Rev.  Samuel 
Aughey,  who  was  unanimously  elected  at  the  June  meeting.  June  13, 
1871,  a  tutor  was  authorized,  and  G.  E.  Church  was  chosen  as  the 
first  tutor  at  a  salary  of  $1,000.  Finally  the  first  faculty  was  com- 
pleted, by  the  election,  September  6,  1871,  of  S.  K.  Thompson  to  the 


238  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

chair  ol'  agi-iciilturc,  with  the  condition  that  he  was  not  to  enter  upon 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  for  at  least  one  year.  From  this  modest 
beginning  of  four  professors  and  one  tutor  the  faculty  has  developed 
into  a  body  of  twelve  professors,  two  associates,  two  adjunct  profes- 
sors, two  instructors,  two  tutors,  two  lecturers,  and  the  principal  of 
the  Latin  school,  besides  assistants  in  the  laboratories  and  the  teach- 
ers in  art  and  music. 

The  character  of  the  development  of  tiie  university  course  of  in- 
struction can  not  be  better  summarized  than  by  quoting  the  words  of 
Prof.  Caldwell:  '^Two  sharply-marked  principles  have  governed  in 
the  formation  of  the  courses  of  study.  The  first  period  was  charac- 
terized by  an  almost  inflexible  course  of  study;  there  w'ere  practically 
no  elect ives.  The  classics  and  mathematics  formed  the  backbone 
of  the  work.  A  term  or  two  of  history  and  of  English  literature,  a 
couple  of  years  of  some  modern  language,  and  a  text-book  study  of  two 
or  three  sciences,  were  switched  in,  with  no  expectation  of  securing 
more  than  a  mere  outline  knowledge  of  these  subjects.  They  were 
not  supposed  to  be  able  to  give  mental  culture;  the  scientific  course 
even  was  not  made  to  secure  a  mental  development ;  its  object  was  to 
give  practical  knowledge.  In  short,  whether  for  better  or  worse,  the 
ordinary  college  course  of  the  renaissance  type,  only  slightly  impreg- 
nated with  the  modern  scientific  and  historic  spirit,  was  the  only  one 
recognized. 

"  The  second  period  begins  in  1 880  and  marks  an  entire  revolution  in 
ideas.  An  elective  course  was  introduced  and  the  principle  recognized 
that  all  studies  may  be  made  about  equally  valuable  for  purposes  of 
mental  culture,  and  therefore  the  courses  were  planned  with  reference 
to  continuity  of  work  in  each  line.  The  pamphlet  announcing  the 
change  says  :  'The  elective  system  is  the  one  that  insures  the  great- 
est interest  and  profit  in  every  study,  and  it  is  the  only  system  that 
allows  a  student  to  become  a  special  scholar  in  any  one  department, 
while  still  leaving  to  him  the  option  of  a  general  education.' " 

The  progress  of  the  university,  under  the  system  introduced  in  1880, 
has  been  steady  and  rapid,  and  the  institution  has  becomewidcly  known 
for  its  original  work  in  several  departments  of  investigation.  The 
department  of  liistory  is  especially  strong,  and  with  the  ])ossible  ex- 
ceptirjn  of  the  Michigan  and  California  universities,  no  institution  west 
of  the  Alleghanies  has  developed  its  e(]nal.     The  work  which  has  just 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  239 

been  published  by  Prof.  George  E.  Howard,  the  head  of  this  depart- 
ment on  "Local  Constitutional  Government  in  the  United  States" 
has  been  most  favorably  received  by  the  great  historians  of  the  world, 
and  gives  him  higli  rank  among  specialists  in  historical  investigation. 

The  income  of  the  university  is  derived  from  the  interest  on  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  Agricultural  College  and  University  lands, 
donated  to  the  State  by  Congress,  from  the  rental  of  unsold  lands 
and  fi'om  a  university  tax,  levied  by  the  State.  The  total  grant  of 
lands  amounted  to  135,576.31  acres.  The  income  from  this  source 
in  1888  was  about  $38,923.64."  It  is  estimated  that  under  the  present 
policy  of  disposing  of  these  lands,  the  total  permanent  investment  will 
be  about  $1,000,000. 

The  unity  of  the  educational  system  of  the  State  is  recognized  both 
by  the  university  authorities  and  those  who  have  the  direction  of  the 
common  schools.  The  high  schools  of  the  State  are  gradually  and 
systematically  being  brought  into  close  relations  with  the  university 
by  being  accredited  as  preparatory  schools  whose  graduates  are  ad- 
mitted to  the  university  without  examination. 

The  university  has  passed  the  dangers  of  the  formative  period.  It 
has  a  well-defined  policy  and  course  of  study  established  upon  tlie 
broadest  and  most  modern  basis.  It  has  passed  safely  through  the 
period  of  sectarian  intermeddling,  and  the  dangerous  reaction  which 
followed,  and  the  spirit  which  controls  its  management  now  is  one 
which,  while  recognizing  the  Christian  element  Avhich  pervades  all  our 
institutions,  is  broad  and  tolerant.  There  is  no  reason  why,  with  the 
development  of  the  State,  the  institution  shall  not  become  the  equal  of 
any  in  the  United  States. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  UNIVERSITY. 

This  institution,  which,  from  its  prosperous  beginning,  promises  to 
be  one  of  the  leading  schools  of  higher  education  in  the  West,  had  its 
origin  in  the  following  manner  : 

In  July,  1887,  a  proposition  was  made  to  the  Nebraska  Christian 
Missionary  Board  to  donate  certain  lands,  in  or  near  the  city  of 
Lincoln,  on  condition  that  a  university  of  the  Christian  church  be 
established  thereon.  After  investigation  and  consultation,  a  commit- 
tee especially  appointed,  decided  to  locate  the  proposed  university  on 
what  was  known  as  the  Hawley  form,  adjoining  the  city  on  the  north- 


240 


HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


east.  The  donations  of  land  received  consisted  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty-one  acres  of  land  and  city  lots  valued  at  four  thousand  dollars. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  held  February  14th,  articles  of  incor- 
poration Mere  adopted  and  a  subcommittee  appointed,  of  whi'cli  J.  Z. 
Briscoe  was  chairman,  to  consider  plans  and  specifications  of  a  main 
building  to  be  begun  on  or  before  May  1,  1888. 


Tin:    CHIMSI  IAN    INIVKKSITY. 


The  corner-stone  of  the  first  building  was  laid  with  appropriate 
ceremonies,  April  30,  1888.  The  building  consists  of  Milwaukee 
brick,  trinmied  with  Michigan  red  sandstone.  It  is  four  stories 
liigh,  exclusive  of  basement;  one  hundred  and  eight  feet  front  by 
.seventy-eight  in  depth. 

The  action  of  the  committee  in  inaugurating  the  enterprise  was  con- 


EDUCATIONAL   INSTITUTIONS.  241 

firmed  by  the  State  Convention  held  at  Lincoln,  August  28th  to  30th' 
1888.  A  board  of  trustees  was  elected,  to  be  known  as  the  Nebraska 
Christian  Educational  Board.  It  consisted  of  J.  Z.  Briscoe,  President; 
Ex-Governor  Alvin  Saunders,  Vice  President;  C.  R.  Van  Duyn, 
Treasurer;  Porter  Hedge,  Secretary;  and  W.  P.  Aylsworth,  W.  T. 
jSTewcomb,  Ira  Titus,  C.  J.  Hale,  Thos.  Wiles,  J.  T.  Smith,  C.  C. 
Munson,  E.  T.  Gadd.  Subsequently  the  contracts  were  let  for  the 
:first  building,  aggregating  a  cost  of  $65,000,  to  be  completed  about 
the  first  of  January,  1890.  The  work  thus  far  has  progressed  very 
satisfactorily,  and  is  nearing  completion.  All  expenses  have  been 
promptly  met  by  the  sale  of  lots. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  in  April,  1889,  it  was  decided  to  open 
the  school  October  1,  1889.  The  following-named  persons  will  con- 
stitute the  first  faculty : 

W.  P.  Aylsworth,  A.  M.,  Acting  President,  Dean  of  the  Biblical  Department,  and 
Professor  of  Hebrew  and  Biblical  Literature. 

A.  M.  Chamberlain,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Ancient  Language  and  Literature. 

J.  A.  Beattie,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Pure  and  Ajiplied  Mathematics. 

E.  D.  Harris,  A.  B. ,  Instructor  in  Preparatory  School. 

A.  T.  Noe.,  M.  D  .  Instructor  in  Physiology,  Anatomy,  and  Hygiene. 

Mrs.  W.  P.  Stearns,  Instructor  in  Vocal  and  Instrumental  3Iusic. 

The  present  prospects  of  the  enterprise  are  very  bright.  Already 
several  buildings  have  been  erected  and  others  are  under  way.  A 
boarding:  hall  for  the  accommodation  of  the  students  has  been  ordered 
built  to  be  ready  for  the  spring  of  the  school  year  October  1st.  A  street- 
car line  has  been  projected  and  material  ordered,  connecting  the  city  di- 
rectly with  the  university  campus,  known  as  "the  Befhany  Heights 
street-car  line."  The  prospective  endowment  is  thought  to  be  not  less 
than  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  dollars.  Twenty-five  thou- 
sand of  this  amount  is  a  donation  by  J.  J.  Briscoe,  which  is  designed 
to  be  used  as  a  basis  of  support  for  the  Chair  of  Biblical  Literature. 

THE   NEBKASKA  WESLEYAN  UNIVEESITY. 

By  an  agreement  entered  into  by  the  three  Nebraska  Annual  Con- 
ferences of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  a  commission,  was  ap- 
pointed, consisting  of  members  of  each  Conference  and  representatives 
of  the  Boards  of  Trustees  of  the  then  existing  colleges,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  considering  the  matter  of  locating  a  central  university,  under 


242 


HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 


the  control  and  patronage  of  tlie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Nebraska. 

The  commission  met  in  Lincoln,  in  December,  1886,  and  selected 
Lincoln  as  the  location  of  the  future  university.  Trustees  were 
chosen,  and  they  entered  upon  the  work  of  preparation  at  once. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  first  university  structure  was  laid  in  Sep- 
tember, 1887,  and  the  institution  was  opened  for  students  in  Septem- 
ber, 1888. 

The  property  of  the  university  consists  of  an  endowment  fund  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  five  hundred  lots  in  University 
Place,  and  a  campus  of  forty-four  acres. 


THE   WESLKYAN   UNIVERSrrY. 


The  cost  of  tlie  building  was  about  seventy-five  thousand  dollars^ 
The  building  is  fully  completed,  and  is  being  thoroughly  furnished 
for  the  best  class  of  work. 

There  are  three  .regular  courses  of  study — classical,  scientific,  and 
philosophical  —  besides  complete  courses  in  music,  art,  and  elocution. 
There  are  eight  regular  professors,  besides  tutors. 

The  total  number  of  students  enrolled  since  September,  1888,  i& 
about  150. 

Tlie  village  of  "University  Place"  was  incorporated  in  1888,  and 
is  raj)idly  developing  as  a  first  class  educational  center.  The  ele- 
ments that  cluster  about  it  are  such  as  to  insure  its  future  character 
as  a  vilhige  of  exceptional  morality  and  intelligence. 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  243 

The  Nebraska  Wesleyan  University,  by  the  terms  of  the  "  Plans 
of  Agreement"  adopted  by  the  "commission/'  became  the  head  of 
all  the  colleges,  academies,  and  other  schools,  existing  or  to  be  here- 
after organized  under  the  control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Nebraska. 

THE   LINCOLN   BUSINESS   COLLEGE. 

The  Lincoln  Business  College  was  founded  in  1884  by  Prof.  F.  F. 
Roose.  The  following  year  Prof.  D.  R.  Lillibridge  was  admitted, 
and  since  that  date  the  college  has  been  conducted  under  the  firm 
name  of  Lillibridge  &  Roose.  It  has  been  uniformly  successful, 
its  patronage  growing  constantly  and  the  scope  and  efficiency  of  its 
instruction  improving  all  the  time.  It  is  now  recognized  as  one  of 
the  best  schools  of  its  class  in  the  West,  possessing  a  complete  and 
thorough  business  course,  including  full  short  hand,  normal,  penman- 
ship, type-writing,  and  telegraphic  departments.  That  it  is  a  supe- 
rior school  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  its  attendance  was  six  hundred 
students  during  the  past  year.  The  entire  third  floor  of  the  Academy 
of  Music  block,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Eleventh  and  O  streets, 
is  now  required  for  the  accommodation  of  the  various  departments. 
Students  attend  this  excellent  school  of  practical  instruction  from  Ne- 
braska, Colorado,  Dakota,  Kansas,  Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Minnesota, 
those  States  being  its  regular  field  of  patronage.  Occasional  students 
come  from  all  parts  of  the  L^nion.  Seven  teachers  are  employed  reg- 
ularly in  the  college. 

The  graduates  of  its  various  departments  readily  find  employment 
in  the  lines  of  work  for  which  the  school  has  given  them  special 
training.  In  securing  situations  the  managers  of  the  institution  offer 
constant  and  cheerful  assistance.  The  Lincoln  Business  College  is 
one  of  the  most  excellent  institutions  of  this  city.  Messrs.  Lillibridge 
and  Roose  are  among  our  most  popular  business  men  and  citizens. 
Mr.  Lillibridge  is  now  Commander  of  Appomattox  Post  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  holds  other  prominent  social  posi- 
tions. Mr.  Roose  is  Deputy  Head  Consul  of  the  Head  Camp  of 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  the  highest  official,  save  one,  in  that 
order.     He  is  also  a  prominent  member  in  other  orders. 


244 


HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


THE  CATHOLIC  SCHOOLS. 
One  of  the  successful  schools  of  the  city  is  the  Catholic  Seminary, 
located  east  of  Fourteenth  street,  between  U  and  Y.  The  building 
M-as  originally  built  by  a  stock  company  as  a  dormitory  for  the  State 
University,  but  it  did  not  pay,  and  was  sold  at  sheriff's  sale  in  1882, 
and  was  bid  in  by  ]\Ir.  John  Fitzgerald.     He  sold  it  to  the  Sisters  of 


the  Holy  Cliild  Jesus,  who  opened  a  general  school  there,  and  have 
conducted  it  ever  since.  For  some  time  it  did  not  fully  pay  expenses, 
and  Mr.  Fitzgerald  generously  sup])lied  the  shortage  from  his  own 
])Ocket.  It  now  is  self-sustaining.  INIrs.  John  Fitzgerald  has  labored 
constantly  to  encourage  the  school,  and  establish  it;  and  owing  largely 
to  licr  kind  offices,  and  the  good  work  done  by  the  sisters,  the  school 


EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS.  245 

has  become  one  of  the  permanent  and  growing  institutions  of  Lincoln. 
It  will  continue  partly  a  general  and  partly  a  select  school  until  Sep- 
tember, 1890,  when  the  parochial  school  building,  now  being  erected 
near  the  pro-cathedral,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  M  and  Thirteenth 
streets,  under  the  direction  of  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Bonacum,  will  be  com- 
pleted. 

This  building  will  cost  about  $35,000,  and  a  school  with  prepara- 
tory and  academic  courses  will  open  there  in  the  fall  of  1890,  for 
young  men.  It  will  be  conducted  by  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools,  and  will  open  with  a  corps  of  five  teachers.  The  curriculum 
will  include  a  full  commercial  course  of  study  and  other  practical  in- 
struction. AVhen  this  school  is  opened  the  grade  of  instruction  in  the 
young  ladies'  academy  will  be  raised,  the  advancement  having  now 
been  made  in  part,  with  a  high  standard  of  excellence  in  every  par- 
ticular. Young  ladies  from  all  parts  of  Nebraska,  without  regard  to 
religious  belief,  will  be  received  and  taught  on  equal  terms. 

OTHER  SCHOOLS. 

An  important  educational  institution  is  now  being  founded  by  Prof. 
O.  B.  Howell,  of  this  city.  This  is  the  Nebraska  Conservatory  of 
Music.  A  three-story  building  of  cut  stone  and  brick,  50x132  feet^ 
with  massive  towers,  is  being  erected  at  the  southeast  corner  of  L  and 
Thirteenth  streets,  in  which  is  to  be  opened,  this  fall,  a  college  of  mu- 
sic and  fine  arts.  The  conservatory  will  be  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  State,  with  a  Board  of  Trustees,  and  graduates  will  receive 
diplomas.  Students  who  are  given  special  training  as  teachers  will 
receive  certificates. 

A  full  corps  of  the  best  teachers  will  be  engaged.  Each  department 
will  be  in  charge  of  a  principal,  who  will  be  assisted  by  competent  in- 
structors. Private  instruction  will  also  be  given.  A  home  will  be 
furnished  in  the  building  for  young  ladies  attending  from  a  distance. 
This  home  will  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  director,  preceptress, 
and  matron.  At  the  beginning  of  each  school  year  one  free  scholar- 
ship will  be  given  some  person  in  the  State  who  has  natural  ability 
but  not  the  means  to  acquire  a  musical  education. 

It  is  needless  to  state  that  this  institution  will  be  an  important  ad- 
dition to  the  educational  advantages  of  Lincoln,  and,  indeed,  of  the 
entire  State.  Professor  Howell  is  a  man  of  energy  and  ability,  and 
will  doubtless  make  the  conservatory  successful. 


246  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

Ill  this  fonupctiou  it  is  proper  to  state  that  in  1887  the  first  of  a 
series  of  aniiiKil  musical  festivals  was  attempted,  and  it  Avas  so  success- 
ful that  it  was  repeated  and  improved  in  1888,  and  again  in  the  spring 
of  1889.  The  last  festival  was  received  with  every  mark  of  i)opu- 
lar  approval,  and  drew  crowded  houses  for  three  successive  nights. 
Such  music  as  the  "Hallehijah  Chorus,"  and  some  of  the  famous  ora- 
torios, were  rendered  by  able  singers  from  abroad,  assisted  by  the  best 
home  talent.  The  credit  for  the  success  of  these  musical  events  was 
largely  due  to  Mrs.  V.  V.  ]M.  Ivaymond,  a  most  estimable  lady  of  Lin- 
coln. 

Elder  Johnson  established  a  denominational  school  for  the  Seventh- 
day  Adventist  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  and  E  streets,  in  1887. 
which  still  continues,  with  a  motlerate  attendance. 

A  number  of  private  schools  of  more  than  ordinary  excellence  are 
also  conducted. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  Lincoln's  claim  of  being 
the  educational  center  of  the  West  is  well  founded,  and  that  the 
pride  of  her  people  in  their  institutions  of  learning  is  fully  justified 
by  the  facts  as  they  exist  to-day.  And  the  future  holds  much  in 
store. 


LINCOLN  S  CHURCHES.  247 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

LixcoLx's  Churchks— The  Brooklyx  of  the  West— Historical  Sketches 
OF  ALL  the  Churches  of  the  City— The  Y.  U.  C.  A.  Organization. 

I^incoln  is  ]>rc('miiiently  a  city  of  clinrches.  As  an  educational 
center  the  city  is  not  eqnaled  in  the  West.  And  while  this  is  true 
it  is  equally  true  that  no  city  in  the  West  can  equal  this  in  the 
number  of  its  church  organizations  and  the  beauty  of  its  churches. 
The  present  chapter  is  devoted  to  historical  sketches  of  the  various 
churches,  which  nunii)er  about  forty.  A  former  chapter  has  o-iven 
iin  account  of  the  very  early  church  work  in  the  town  of  Lancaster, 
iind  the  present  will  deal  with  the  churches  now  occupying  the  field. 

In  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  Methodism,  as  soon  as  the  emigrants' 
wagons  had  made  a  [)ermanent  halt  on  the  prairies  of  Lancaster  county, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  itinerant  was  on  his  track,  and  in  1867  Rev. 
Robt.  Hawks  was  appointed  to  what  was  then  called  Lancaster  Cir- 
•cuit.  He  formed  a  Methodist  class  at  Lancaster,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  conference  year,  Lancaster  class  had  sixteen  members.  During 
the  year  1867,  the  town  Lancaster  was  changed  to  Lincoln,  and  the 
capital  of  the  State  located  at  Lincoln.  No  sooner  was  this  done 
than  the  prophetic  eye  of  ^Methodism  took  in  the  situation,  and  was 
laying  plans  to  meet  the  emergency.  In  the  spring  of  1868,  Lan- 
caster class  was  made  a  station,  and  the  society  named  the  First  M. 
E.  Church  of  Lincoln,  and  Rev.  H.  T.  Davis  was  appointed  its 
pastor.  When  Elder  Davis  arrived  on  the  ground  he  found  a  society 
of  sixteen  members,  a  small  shell  of  a  church  on  Tenth  street,  just 
inclosed,  with  a  S400  mortgage  on  it,  and  no  parsonage.  Among 
the  sixteen  original  members  can  be  mentioned  Captain  Baird  and 
wife,  John  Cadman  and  wife,  AYm.  Cadman,  A.  K.  White  and  wife, 
J.  Kimball  and  wife,  Mrs.  J.  Schoolcraft,  with  J.  Kimball  as  class 
leader.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  little  church  on  Tenth 
street  was  too  small  for  the  people.  It  was  cleared  of  the  8400 
mortgage  and  sold  for  school  purposes,  and  a  larger  building,  costing 


248  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   LINCOLN. 

S3,000,  built  on  the  ^ite  the  hirge  8t.  Paul  stone  church  now  occupies^ 
Elder  Davis  stayed  three  years,  and  closed  his  pastorate  with  a  mem- 
bership of  202.  Rev.  J.  J.  Roberts  was  the  next  pastor.  He  came 
in  1871,  from  the  Genesee  Conference,  N.  Y.  lie  came  to  Nebraska 
with  hopes  of  improving  his  health,  which  was  poor;  but  instead  of 
his  health  being  improved,  he  continued  to  grow  worse,  and  at  the 
end  of  one  year  he  was  compelled  to  give  up  Avork.  His  pastorate, 
though  short,  was  successful,  the  membership  having  grown  to  300, 
and  a  parsonage  having  been  built  —  the  present  parsonage,  less  an 
addition  since  made.  In  1872,  Rev.  G.  S.  Alexander  was  appointed 
to  this  church,  and  his  pastorate  is  remembered  because  of  the  promi- 
nent part  he  took  in  the  Woman's  Crusade.  In  1874,  Rev.  W.  B. 
Slaughter  was  sent  to  the  Lincoln  M.  E.  Church.  He  came  from 
Brownville  and  remained  three  years,  the  full  pastoral  term.  His 
pastorate  was  a  very  successful  one,  and  the  increase  in  membership, 
and  the  growing  audiences,  demanded  more  room,  and  another  wing 
was  added  to  the  church.  Mr.  Slaughter  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
H.  S.  Henderson,  of  Iowa,  who  came  in  1877,  and  served  the  church 
two  years.  The  Young  People's  Meeting  was  organized  during  Mr. 
Henderson's  pastorate,  with  Dr.  Paine  as  leader.  Rev.  A.  C.  Wil- 
liams was  the  next  pastor.  He  came  in  1879,  and  remained  the  full 
]iastoral  term,  three  years.  The  A  street  society  was  formed  during 
Mr.  Williams's  term,  and  a  church  built,  but  this  was  done  contrary 
to  his  judgment  and  Avishes.  There  was  quite  an  opposition  to  the 
movement,  though  a  majority  thought  the  time  had  come  for  this 
church  to  enlarge  its  borders  and  establish  another  church.  Owing 
to  the  strong  opposition  to  the  movement,  or  from  some  other  cause, 
this  church  made  no  growth  or  advancement  till,  at  a  later  day,  it 
was  moved  and  changed  to  Trinity,  as  will  hereafter  be  noticed.  Rev. 
R.  N.  McKaig  succeeded  Rev.  AVilliams  in  1882.  Rev.  McKaig  was 
an  inveterate  worker,  and  the  church  took  a  new  impetus  at  once  on 
his  arrival.  The  congregation  grew,  and  the  question  of  a  new 
church,  which  had  been  contemplated  during  Rev.  Williams's  pastor- 
ate, now  revived,  and  the  sentiment  for  a  new  church  was  strong.  On 
April  23,  1883,  an  official  meeting  of  the  church  was  held,  and  it 
was  decided  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  erection  of  a  new  house  of  wor- 
ship. Committees  were  then  a])pointcd  to  look  after  the  various 
departments  of  the  work.     On  June  11th  the  plans  of  a  Mr.  Wilcox,. 


LINCOLN'S    CHURCHES.  249 

of  Minneapolis,  were  accepted,  the  cost  of  the  proposed  building  to 
be  $25,000.  Excavating  for  the  new  cliurch  Mas  begun  on  July  1st. 
It  Avas  soon  found  that  the  church  would  cost  much  more  than  con- 
templated, but  it  was  decided  to  go  on  with  the  work  as  arranged, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  tiie  excess 
of  cost.  The  corner-stone  of  the  church  was  laid  by  Dr.  Marine, 
since  pastor  of  the  church,  in  the  spring  of  1884,  and  tiie  church 
was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Bowman  on  Sunday,  August  23, 1885.  The 
church  cost  $45,000  instead  of  §25,000,  but  this  amount  was  soon 
paid  in,  leaving  the  church  free  from  debt.  This  church  Avas  then 
called,  as  it  had  first  been  named,  the  First  M.  E.  Church,  Avhich 
name  was  changed,  in  the  fall  of  1883,  to  the  St.  Paul  M.  E.  Church. 

Rev.  C.  F.  Creighton,  of  Circleville,  Ohio,  succeeded  Rev.  ^Mr. 
Williams  by  appointment.  He  came  in  1885,  and  remained  two 
.years,  being  elected  Chancellor  of  the  Nebraska  Wesleyan  University 
in  the  fall  of  1887.  The  first  year  of  Rev.  Creighton's  j)astorate 
was  doubtless  the  most  successful  in  the  history  of  the  church.  It 
was  during  this  year  that  the  great  Bitler  revival  took  place  This 
large  revival  swelled  the  church  membership,  including  the  j^roba- 
tioners  received  from  the  meeting,  to  about  1,200.  This  large  mem- 
bership was  too  much  for  one  pastor,  and  Rev.  J.  S.  Bitler,  the 
evangelist,  was  elected  as  assistant  pastor  till  conference.  It  Avas 
during  this  year,  on  March  19th,  that  the  churcli  decided  to  build  a 
new  church,  east  of  the  Antelope.  A  site  was  selected,  and  a  tem- 
porary tabernacle  erected  for  services  till  a  new  church  could  be  built. 
This  new  church  was  commenced  on  the  corner  of  R  and  Twenty- 
seventh  streets,  and  work  on  it  was  pushed  with  all  possible  speed. 
In  less  than  four  months  from  its  commencement  it  was  ready  to 
be  turned  over  to  the  trustees. 

At  the  annual  couference  held  the  following  September,  J.  T. 
Minehart  Avas  appointed  pastor  of  the  new  church.  The  society  Avas 
named  Grace  M.  E.  Church,  and  the  ncAV  church  building,  costing 
$11,000,  Avas  dedicated  September  19th,  1889,  by  Bishop  Warren, 
free  from  debt.  The  second  year  of  Rev.  Creighton's  pastorate, 
1886,  Avas  an  eventful  one.  Grace  Church  had  become  well  estab- 
lished, and  Avas  moving  on,  but  still  there  were  calls  from  South 
Lincoln  and  West  Lincoln  for  help  on  ncAV  churches,  and  during  this 
year  Trinity  M.  JE.  Church  Avas  established,  which  absorbed  the  old 
17 


250  HISTORY   OF    THE    CITY    OF    MNCOLN. 

A  Street  church,  heretofore  mentioned.  A  new  site  was  selected,  and 
a  new  church  built  on  the  corner  of  A  and  Sixteenth  streets.  At 
the  next  conference,  Rev.  H.  T.  Davis,  the  present  pastor,  was  ap- 
])ointed  to  Trinity  Church,  and  since  Elder  Davis's  connection  with  it, 
it  has  steadilv  orown,and  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  prosperous  church 
societies  in  the  city,  having  a  membership  of  upward  of  260. 

This  same  year,  Asbury  JNI.  E.  Church,  at  West  Lincoln,  was  built 
bv  tlic  assistance  and  under  the  guardianship  of  St.  Paul  M.  E. 
Church.  This  was  dedicated  in  November,  1887,  and  Rev.  Clay 
Cox  was  appointed  its  pastor.  This  church  cost,  with  furniture, 
about  S2,000.  The  Nebraska  AVesleyan  University  thrust  itself  on 
St.  Raul  Church  this  year,  and  its  pastor  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
interests  of  Lincoln,  and  every  one  seemed  to  look  to  him  for  lead- 
ershi}). 

A\'iicn  the  university  was  located.  Dr.  Creighton  was  elected  its 
president,  and  resigned  the  pastorate  of  St.  Paul's.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded bv  Dr.  Marine,  who  was  transferred  from  the  Indiana  confer- 
ence. His  ti-ansfer  was  a  very  unfortunate  one,  on  account  of  his 
health.  The  church,  especially  at  the  time  of  his  coming,  needed  a 
man  of  great  physical  activity  to  shepherd  the  people  and  gather  up 
the  scattered  ones.  Dr.  INIarine  took  sick  in  the  summer  of  the  first 
year,  which  developed  into  brain  trouble,  and  for  weeks  he  laid  at 
death's  door.  He  finally  recovered,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of 
everv  one,  and  was  able  to  attend  the  annual  conference.  He  thought 
he  was  as  well  as  ever,  and  on  the  statement  of  his  physician  that  he 
was  able  to  take  tlie  work,  he  was  returned  to  St.  Paul  Church  for  the 
.second  year. 

On  September  10th,  1888,  W.  H.  Prescott  was  elected  by  the  official 
board  as  associate  pastor  and  financial  secretary,  and  was  appointed  by 
the  Presiding  Elder.  On  the  return  of  Dr.  INIarine  for  the  second  year, 
he  found  himself  able  to  occupy  the  pulpit  only  occasionally,  and  he 
soon  was  taken  down  with  another  serious  attack  of  brain  trouble,  which 
entirely  unfitted  him  for  the  duties  of  ])astor.  The  official  board 
granted  him  a  vacation  of  three  months,  for  him  to  go  East,  in  hopes 
of  his  recovery.  On  Eebruary  4th,  1888,  Rev.  W.  H.  Prescott 
resigned  as  assistant  pastor  and  financial  secretary.  The  pulpit  was 
supplied  by  transient  ministers  for  several  months.  Dr.  Marine's 
licalth  was  made  worse  by  his  trip  East,  and  he  soon  returned,  \vorse 


ST.  PAUL   M.  E.  CHURCH. 


252  HISTOKY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

than  -when  he  left.  It  now  beino-  evident  to  himself  that  he  would 
not  be  able  to  assume  his  duties  again,  he  tendered  his  resignation  as 
pastor,  which  was  accepted  April  1st,  1888.  The  official  board  then 
recjuested  the  Presiding  Elder,  with  the  aid  of  the  Bishop,  to  secure  a 
new  pastor  for  St.  Paul  Church  as  soon  as  possible,  and  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Bishops  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  in  May,  several  united  in  recom- 
mending Rev.  F.  S.  Stein,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  who  was  appointed. 
His  transfer  to  the  Nebraska  Conference  was  arranged,  and  on  June 
1,  1889,  liev.  Stein  was  on  the  ground  as  pastor.  The  membership 
of  St.  Paul's  is  now  nearly  000. 

The  Rev.  Father  Emmanuel  Hartig,  O.  S.  B.,  the  jiresent  German 
pastor  of  Nebraska  City,  is  the  founder  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Lin- 
coln. He  was  born  at  Inchenhofer,  Bavaria,  May  1,  1830.  In  Sep- 
tembei",  1857,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  went  to  St.  Vincent's 
monastery,  Westmoreland  county,  Penn.  Here  he  remained  until 
September,  1860,  when  Rt.  Rev.  Abbott  Wimmer  sent  him  to  Atchi- 
son, Kansas.  At  this  place  he  was  ordained  priest  by  Rt.  Rev.  John 
Miege,  first  Bishop  of  Leavenworth,  July  10,  1861.  His  Superior, 
Rev.  Augustine  Wirth,  sent  him  on  the  same  day  to  take  charge  of 
Nebraska  City  mission.  From  Nebraska  City  he  administered  for 
several  years  to  the  sj^iritual  needs  of  all  the  Catholics  in  the  South 
Platte  country,  includnig  Salt  creek.  When,  in  1867,  Lincoln  be- 
came the  capital  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  he  came  hither  in  the  inter- 
ests of  his  charge.  He  found  but  few  houses  in  Lincoln  ;  at  one  of 
these,  the  house  of  Mr.  Daily,  he  held  service  until  the  erection  of  the 
first  church,  in  1868,  a  frame  building,  24x50,  costing  $1,000.  On 
the  completion  of  this  church  Lincoln  had  service  once  a  month.  Rev. 
Father  Hartig  being  no  longer  able  to  operate  successfully  over  so 
broad  a  field,  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Fink  sent  him  an  assistant  in  the  per- 
son of  Rev.  Michael  Kaumlcy.  From  August,  1868,  to  February, 
1869,  either  Rev.  Father  Hartig  or  Rev.  Father  Kaumley  held  service 
in  Lincoln  once  a  month.  At  the  latter  date,  Rev.  Father  Kaumley 
was  recalled  and  his  place  taken  by  Rev.  Father  Michael  Hofmeyer, 
of  St.  Vincent's  Abbey,  Westmorland  county,  Penn.  For  some  time 
he  attended  Lincoln  from  Nebraska  City,  but  finally  located  at  the 
capital,  and  thus  became  the  first  resident  Roman  Catholic  priest  of 
our  city.     He  added  thirty  feet  to  the  church  and  began  to  keep  the 


Lincoln's  churches.  253 

parish  records  of  Lincoln.  Until  his  arrival  the  records  had  been 
kept  at  Nebraska  City.  The  first  marriage  mentioned  in  the  Lincoln 
records  is  that  of  Silas  Half  and  Catherine  Curtin,  in  the  presence  of 
Thos.  G.  Murphy  and  Honora  Murphy,  Rev.  Father  Hofmeyer  being 
the  minister.  The  first  interment  was  that  of  Henry  Armon,  who 
died  in  October,  18B9.  The  first  recorded  baptism  took  place  Sep- 
tember 26,  1869.  The  last  record  made  by  Rev.  Father  Hofmeyer 
is  that  of  a  marriage  on  December  26,  1870.  During  his  charge  at 
Lincoln  he  performed  seven  matrimonial  and  sixty-five  baptismal 
services. 

Rev.  Father  Hofmeyer  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  William  Kelly. 
Rev.  Father  Kelly's  first  recorded  act  is  that  of  the  marriage  of  John 
J.  Butler  and  Mary  J.  Kennedy,  which  took  place,  May  16,  1871  ; 
his  last  official  act  was  a  baptism  on  April  29,  1874. 

From  this  date  the  growth  of  the  church  has  been  steady,  keeping 
pace  with  all  the  other  interests  of  our  city. 

Within  the  past  ten  years  the  growth  of  the  Catholic  population  of 
Lincoln  and  of  the  whole  South  Platte  country  became  so  pronounced 
that  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  O'Connor,  Bishop  of  Omaha,  petitioned  the 
Bishops  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council,  of  Baltimore,  to  erect  the  South 
Platte  country  into  an  independent  diocese,  with  the  See  at  Lincoln. 
The  wishes  of  the  learned  prelate  were  acceded  to.  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas 
Bonacum  was  appointed  to  the  new  See. 

Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Bonacum  was  born  near  Thurles,  Tipperary 
county,  Ireland,  January  29,  1847,  During  his  infancy  his  parents 
emigrated  to  {he  United  States  and  settled  at  St.  Louis.  His  early 
education  was  conducted  by  the  Christian  Brothers  until  his  fifteenth 
year,  when  he  entered  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  of  St.  Francis  de 
Sales,  near  Milwaukee,  Wis.  At  this  renowned  institution,  during  a 
period  of  six  years,  he  applied  himself  to  the  classics,  English  litera- 
ture, and  the  sciences.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  studies  of  philoso- 
phy and  theology  under  the  Lazarist  Fathers,  at  Cape  Girardeau, 
Mo.,  until  the  time  of  his  ordination.  He  was  ordained  June  18, 
1870,  at  St.  Louis.  Some  time  after  this  he  went  to  Wiirzburg, 
Bavaria,  and  spent  a  number  of  years  in  the  profound  theological 
course,  the  study  of  canon  law,  and  German  literature.  At  the  end  of 
this  course  he  made  the  tour  of  Euroj)e.  AVhen  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  he  successively  had  charge  of  various  missions,  all  of 


Lincoln's  churches.  255 

which  he  administered  in  a  manner  commendable  to  himself,  beneficial 
to  the  interests  of  religion,  and  satisfactory  to  his  ecclesiastical  snpe- 
riors.  In  1881,  as  an  appreciation  of  his  success  in  more  contracted 
fields,  he  was  appointed  rector  of  the  very  important  parish  of  the 
Holy  Name  of  Jesus,  in  St.  Louis.  Here  he  continued  to  labor  suc- 
cessfully until  his  election  to  the  See  of  Lincoln. 

In  1884,  The  Most  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Kenrick  chose  Rev.  Father 
Bonacum  as  one  of  the  two  theologians  who  always  go  with  a  Bishop 
to  a  council.  This  choice,  coming  from  one  of  so  distinguished  saga- 
city, marked  the  Rev.  Father  Bonacum  as  one  who  would  soon  receive 
even  still  more  remarkable  favors.  The  subsequent  facts  soon  veri- 
fied this  anticipation.  The  fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council,  of 
Baltimore,  decreed  to  divide  the  diocese  of  Alton,  locating  the  See  at 
Belleville,  in  Southern  Illinois.  By  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
assembled  fathers.  Rev.  Father  Bonacum  was  chosen  to  preside  over 
the  new  diocese.  Rome,  at  that  time,  did  not  ratify  the  erection  of 
the  proposed  See,  and  the  matter  was  held  in  abeyance.  Xevertheless 
Leo  XIII  did  not  overlook  the  young  candidate  proposed  by  the 
council  of  Baltimore.  When,  therefore,  the  request  of  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  O'Connor  was  granted  by  Rome,  Rev.  Father  Bonacum,  the 
previous  choice  of  the  fathers  of  the  council  for  Belleville,  Avas  ap- 
pointed Bishop  of  the  See  of  Lincoln. 

The  bulls  were  issued  August  9,  1887,  by  Leo  XIII,  and  the 
consecration  took  place  November  30,  1887,  at  St.  Louis,  in  St. 
John's  pro-cathedral,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of  prelates, 
clergy,  and  laity.  The  Venerable  Peter  Richard  Kenrick,  Archbishop 
of  St.  Louis,  was  the  consecrator.  The  general  approval  of  the  choice 
of  Rome  was  evidenced  by  the  largest  gathering  of  prelates  and  priests 
that  ever  took  place  on  a  similar  occasion  in  that  sacred  edifice. 

Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Bonacum's  reception,  which  took  place  at  Funke's 
opera  house,  December  20,  1887,  will  long  be  remembered  by  all  who 
were  present  as  one  of  the  most  notable  events  connected  with  the 
history  of  our  city.  With  the  coming  to  Lincoln  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  Bonacum,  a  new  and  powerful  energy  was  infused  into  all  the 
Catholic  enterprises  of  the  South  Platte  country.  Not  less  than  thirty 
churches  have  been  dedicated  in  the  period  of  twenty  months.  But  it  is 
in  the  city  of  his  See,  as  one  would  naturally  expect,  that  the  most  re- 
markable proofs  of  his  zeal  are  to  be  found.     The  enlargement  of  the 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LIN'COLN. 

pro-cathedral,  the  furnishing  and  decoration  of  the  interior,  the  procur- 
ing of  suitable  sacred  vestments,  etc.,  were  the  first  objects  of  his 
solicitude.  All  these  ends  were  attained  at  a  cost  of  about  $18,000. 
While  this  woi'k  was  in  progress,  the  organization  of  a  German  con- 
gregation, and  the  building  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  Church  for  this 
people,  was  i)art  of  his  occupation.  The  erection  of  St.  Francis  de 
iSales  Church  has  effected  a  complete  reunion  and  revival  of  German 
Catholic  interests.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  soon  saw  the  great  need  of  a 
hospital  in  so  large  a  city  as  ours,  and  set  himself  to  the  task  of  getting 
one  worth  his  accustomed  energy  and  firmness  of  purpose.  With  this 
object,  he  purchased  the  beautiful  home  and  grounds  of  J.  A.  Buckstaff, 
for  S*2(  >,000.  He  gave  charge  of  the  sick  to  the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis, 
trained  nurses,  who  opened  the  hospital  September  1,  1889.  The 
purchase  was  made  June  15,  1889. 

On  the  acquisition  of  this  handsome  property,  he  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  city  by  which  he  assumed  the  care  of  the  sick  for  a 
period  of  seven  years.  The  terms  of  the  contract  on  the  Bishop's 
part  are  exceedingly  moderate.  The  getting  of  the  hospital  was  a 
gratification  to  all  humane  people. 

A\'eighty  and  various  as  these  cares  were,  they  could  not  divert  the 
mind  of  the  Bishop  from  one  of  the  subjects  of  his  deepest  anxiety : 
the  establishment  and  promotion  of  the  cause  of  Christian  education 
among  his  people.  Reverently  obedient  to  the  instructions  of  the 
Third  Plenary  Council,  of  Baltimore,  that  the  Bishops  of  the  United 
States  should  supply  all  parishes  with  schools,  he  commenced  the 
splendid  school  building  which  is  in  course  of  erection  between  the 
pro-eathcdral  and  the  pastoral  residence,  on  M  street.  Whatever 
skill  and  experience  can  devise  will  be  done  to  make  the  edifice  one 
of  the  most  complete  of  its  kind  in  the  State.  The  cost  will  range 
between  .s20,000  and  S25,000.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  has  a  very 
efficient  body  of  clergymen,  on  M;hom  he  was  dependent  for  the 
accomj)lishment  of  the  works  we  have  enumerated. 

Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Jionacum  is  an  early  riser  and  late  worker;  very 
methodical  in  all  that  he  does.  He  is  simple  in  all  his  tastes  and 
habits.  In  maimer  he  is  dignified  and  courteous  ;  in  etiquette  he  is 
very  considerate  of  the  wishes  of  others.  Hospitality  is  a  pronounced 
trait  of  tiie  Bishop's.  As  a  prelate  he  is  very  broad  and  far-seeing, 
thoroughly  ((|uii)j)(d   w  itli  all  the  spiritual  and  worldly  knowledge 


Lincoln's  churches.  257 

necessary  for  his  exalted  position.  He  has  a  iiiiiid  which,  while 
<;omprehensive,  has  a  singular  facility  for  grasping  details.  He  is 
pliant  enough  when  principle  is  not  involved,  but  where  it  is  a 
matter  of  right  or  justice,  he  is  inflexible  and  inexorable. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  is  one  of  the  most  prominent,  pros- 
perous, and  influential,  of  the  leading  churches  of  Lincoln.  It  was 
organized  with  eight  members  April  4,  1869,  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Elliott, 
of  Nebraska  City.  It  was  not  until  January,  1870,  that  the  church 
secured  the  regular  services  of  a  minister,  the  Rev.  H.  P.  Peck  com- 
mencing his  labors  January  15,  1870,  with  "only  five  effective  mem- 
bers" on  the  ground.  January  26,  1871,  Rev.  H.  P.  Peck  was 
elected  the  first  pastor  of  this  church,  and  was  duly  installed  on  the 
last  Tuesday  of  April,  1 871.  The  first  church  edifice  was  erected  near 
the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  J  streets,  on  lots  donated  by  the  State,  and 
was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  October  9,  1870,  the 
Rev.  T.  H.  Cleland,  D.  D.,  (then  of  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,)  preaching 
the  sermon.  This  first  sanctuary  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,  and 
with  various  improvements  from  time  to  time,  continued  to  be  the 
house  of  worship  for  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  until  December, 
1884.  Ground  was  broken  for  the  erection  of  the  present  church  edi- 
fice at  the  southwest  corner  of  Thirteenth  and  M  streets,  in  April, 
1884;  its  vestry  room  was  completed  in  September,  1885,  and  was 
occupied  as  a  place  of  worship  till  the  middle  of  January,  1886,  when 
the  main  auditorium  was  finished  and  immediately  set  apart  to  its 
sacred  uses.  This  new  and  beautiful  sanctuary,  costing  $40,000,  was 
formally  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  July  18,  1886,  the  Rev. 
A.  Y.  V.  Raymond,  D.  D.,  (now  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,)  preaching  the 
sermon. 

The  following  minsiters  have  served  the  church  either  as  pastor  or 

stated  supply : 

Eev.  A.  P.  Peck January,  1870, June,  1874. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Ellis April,  1S75 March,  1876. 

Eev.  S.  W.  Weller April,  1876 July,  1878. 

Eev.  James  Kemlo January,  1879 December,  1879. 

Eev.  John  O.  Gordon July,  1880 November,  1882. 

Eev.  Edward  H.  Curtis,  D.  D January,  1883 

It  now  has  a  membership  of  nearly  500,  and  a  large  and  successful 
Sunday  School,  at  the  First  Church,  of  which  Mr.  Milton  Scott  is 


TJfi;    I  Il;sT   PRESIJYTEKTAX   CHURCH. 


LINCOLN  S    CHURCHES.  259 

Superinteudeiit,  Mr.  W.  G.  Maitland  First  and  Miss  L.  W.  Irwin 
Second  Assistant  Superintendent.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Hanna  is  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer.  Its  I^adies'  Aid  Society,  Ladies'  Missionary 
Band,  Young  Ladies'  Mission  Band,  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  Children's  Bands,  are  all  prosperous  and 
doing  good  work.  The  officers  of  the  First  Church  are  as  follows : 
,   Edward  H.  Curtis,  Pastor. 

Elders—^.  S.  Scott,  C.  S.  Clason,  Wm.  M.  Clark,  J.  J.  Turner, 
C.  M.  Leighton,  C.  A.  Barker,  John  K.  Clark,  H.  E.  Hitchcock,  J. 
K.  Barr. 

Trustees— T.  H.  McGahey,  F.  W.  Bartruff,;  M.  D.  Welch,  W.  G. 
Maitland,  C.  A.  Barker,  W.  H.  McCreery,  Wm.  M.  Clark,  J.  W. 
Winger,  C.  W.  Lyman. 

This  denomination  has  also  established  a  mission  in  North  Lincoln, 

where  a  Sunday  School  is  maintained,  with  Mr. Osborn  as  its 

Superintendent.     A  church  will  probably  be  organized  there  in  the 
near  future. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  building  is  one  of  the  six  fine 
structures  erected  by  the  leading  denominations  of  the  city,  costing 
on  an  average  -f  45,000,  exclusive  of  grounds,  and  taken  together  per- 
haps are  not  equaled  in  a  city  of  twenty-two  years  of  age  on  the  conti- 
nent. An  additional  half  dozen  costly  and  elegant  church  buildings 
exist  in  the  city,  although  not  so  fine  as  the  first  six  referred  to.  All 
the  church  buildings  are  of  modern  architecture,  and  exliibit  great 
liberality  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Lincoln. 

In  October,  1888,  a  number  of  persons  interested  in  the  work  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  met  in  a  vacant  store  building  near  the  cor- 
ner of  O  and  Twenty-seventh  streets  and  organized  a  Sabbath  School. 
At  this  meeting  there  were  sixty-four  persons  enrolled  as  members  of 
the  school,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Marsland  was  chosen  Superintendent, 
Mr.  George  G.  Waite  Secretary,  and  Mr.  Almon  Tower  Treasurer, 
and  a  full  corps  of  teachers  selected,  and  classes  organized.  Preaching 
services  were  held  in  this  store-room  every  Sabbath  by  different  min- 
isters until  February  14,  1889,  when  the  school  moved  into  the  base- 
ment of  a  church  being  erected  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-sixth  and 
P  streets,  on  lots  donated  in  part  by  William  M.  Clark.  On  the 
evening  of  March  13,  1889,  those  interested  in  the  work  convened 
and  formally  organized  a  church,  to  be  known  as  tlic  Second  Picsby- 


260  HISTORY   OF   THE    CITY   OF    LI^X'OLN. 

tcrian  C'luireh  of  Lincoln,  Nebraska.  This  organization  was  entered 
into  bv  fortv-six  charter  members.    The  officers  elected  were  as  follows : 

Klthrs. —  Mvron  Tower,  Thomas  Maryland,  AV.  C.  Cunningham, 
and  \\'illiam  M.  Clark. 

Trustees. — A\'alter  Hoge,  J.  H.  Mockett  jr.,  George  A.  Seybolt,  and 
H.  C.  Tnllis. 

On  April  1, 1889,  Rev.  Charles  E.  Bradt,  by  invitation  of  the  church, 
took  charge  of  the  work.  The  society  has  gone  steadily  on,  until  at  pres- 
ent the  church  has  an  enrolled  membership  of  eighty -seven,  a  Sabbath 
School  numbering  above  200,  and  a  strong,  groAving,  Young  People's 
Society  of  Christian  p]ndeavor.  The  Church  is  still  worshiping  in  the 
basement  of  what  is  to  be  the  lecture-room  of  the  church  building. 
This  basement  has  been  put  in  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,200,  with  the 
hope  that  the  superstructure  may  soon  be  erected  to  meet  the  growing 
demands  of  the  church  and  congregation. 

Prominent  among  the  prosperous  and  influential  religious  societies 
of  the  city  is  the  Congregational  Church.  The  First  Congregational 
Church,  whose  elegant  building  stands  at  the  northwest  corner  of  L 
and  Thirteenth  streets,  is  one  of  the  pioneer  religious  organizations  of 
the  city.  The  Official  Manual  of  the  church  for  1889  contains  the 
following  historical  sketch : 

"This  church  was  organized  August  19,  18G6,  with  six  meml)ers. 
At  that  time,  according  to  the  records  of  the  Council  assisting  the  or- 
ganization, there  were  in  the  town  seven  buildings,  viz.,  one  seminary, 
four  dwellings,  one  store,  and  one  blacksmith  shop. 

"  Rev.  E.  C.  Taylor  was  pastor  of  the  church  from  its  organization 
imtil  October,  1807.  The  members  of  the  church  at  its  organization 
were  F.  A.  ]^idwell,  John  8.  (Gregory,  Mrs.  Welthy  P.  Gregory,  Mary 
E.  Gregory,  Philester  Jessup,  Mrs.  Ann  M.  I^angdon. 

"Rev.  Charles  Little  accepted  a  call  to  become  pastor  of  the  church 
on  November  8,  1867,  and  continued  until  April,  1870.  During  his 
ministry  the  first  meeting-house  was  erected.  It  was  built  in  1868 
and  furnished  in  1869.  An  Ecclesiastical  Society,  to  have  charge  of 
financial  affairs,  was  organized  April  11,  1868,  which  surrendered  its 
authority  to  the  church  and  disbanded  January  16,  1873.  The  church 
was  incorporated  Jamiary  2.'>,  1873.  Rev.  Lebbeus  B.  Fifield  was 
called  to  the  i)astorate  September  12,  1870,  and  resigned  June  4,  1872. 


A 


THE   FIKST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH. 


262  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLX. 

Aui;u?^t  1, 1872,  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Diniock  was  asked  to  preach.  He  was 
installed  bv  Council  January  2,  1873,  and  dismissed  on  advice  of 
Council  Januarv  15,  1875.  During  his  pastorate  (1873)  the  meeting- 
house was  considerably  enlarged.  A  call  was  extended  to  Rev.  Lewis 
Gregory  September  10,  1875.  He  was  installed  by  Council  Novem- 
ber 23,  1876.  The  church  building  was  repaired  and  refurnished  in 
1878.  April  29, 1883,  the  church  voted  to  build  a  new  meeting-house. 
The  plan  for  the  present  building  was  adopted  September  20,  1883. 
Work  began  November  6,  1883.  The  basement  and  chapel  were  oc- 
cupied for  Sunday  services  January  17,  1886,  and  the  auditorium  on 
February  7,  1880.  The  building  was  formally  dedicated  January  9, 
1887. 

''Since  its  organization  different  officers  have  served  the  church  in 
order  of  time  as  follows: 

''  Clerks. — J.  S.  Gregory,  J.  P.  Hebard. 

" Deacons. — F.  A.  BidMcll,  E.  J.  Cartlidge,  L.  H.  Fuller,  G.  S. 
Harris,  J.  S.  Gregory,  Geo.  McLean,  J.  C.  Leonard,  AV.  C.  Hawley, 
Geo.  McMillan,  Elisha  Doolittle,  M.  B.  Cheney,  W.  Q.  Bell,  S.  H. 
Burnham. 

"  Trustees.— F.  A.  Bidwell,  W.  R.  Field,  A.  L.  Palmer,  Lindus 
Cody,  S.  M.  Walker,  O.  AV.  Merrill,  J.  P.  Hebard,  S.  B.  Galey,  R.  P.* 
Beecher,  Geo.  S.  Harris,  S.  L.  Coffin,  J.  C.  Leonard,  H.  C.  Babcock, 
T.  H.  Leavitt,  Geo.  McMillan,  L.  E.  Brown,  W.  W.  Peet,  Charles 
AVest,  T.  F.  Hardenburg,  A.  S.  Raymond,  M.  B.  Cheney,  A.  E.  Har- 
greaves,  B.  F.  Bailey. 

"Treasurers. — Albert  Biles,  J.  R.  AVebster,  L.  A.  Groff,  Aldus 
Cody,  R.  P.  Beecher,  E.  J.  Cartlidge,  Geo.  McLean,  T.  F.  Harden- 
burg, Elisha  Doolittle,  Charles  AVest,  J,  C.  Leonard,  T.  H.  Leavitt, 
J.  W.  Bell,  AV.  Q.  Bell." 

The  First  Congregational  church  now  has  between  300  and  400 
members,  maintains  a  large  and  prosperous  Sunday  School,  and  suc- 
cessful missionary  societies  and  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 

During  the  first  week  in  August,  1887,  a  low,  rough  board  house 
was  erected,  at  the  instance  of  Rev.  Lewis  Gregory  and  under  his  di- 
rection, near  the  northwest  corner  of  Seventeenth  and  A  streets.  The 
work  of  construction  required  but  two  days,  and  with  the  chairs  to 
seat  it,  cost  only  about  S2()0.  On  the  following  Sunday,  services  were 
held  tiierc,   under  tiie  direction  of  Rev.  E.  S.  Ralston,  and   religious 


Lincoln's  churches.  263 

exercises  continued  to  be  held  there  regularly  until  the  first  Sundav  in 
November,  1887,  when  the  society  was  organized  as  the  Second  Con- 
gregational Church  of  Lincoln,  and  it  was  so  incorporated.  IJut  at 
the  first  business  meeting  in  1888,  the  name  was  changed  to  that  of 
"Plymouth  Congregational  Church." 

This  primitive  tabernacle  first  Imilt  was  used  as  a  meeting  house 
until  December,  1888,  when  the  new  church  building,  on  the  same 
corner,  was  so  far  completed  that  it  could  be  used  in  part.  On  Eas- 
ter Sunday,  1889,  the  main  auditorium  was  first  iised.  When  fully 
completed  this  building  will  be  a  commodious,  complete,  and  hand- 
some structure,  worth  $10,000.     The  lots  are  valued  at  $5,000  more. 

Rev.  E.  S.  Ralston  has  had  charge  of  this  congregation  from  its 
organization,  and  was  regularly  installed  as  its  pastor  on  May  8, 1888. 

Plymouth  Church  now  has  a  membership  of  over  100,  and  a  Sun- 
day School  of  about  200,  The  membership  of  both  church  and  Sun- 
day School  is  constantly  growing.  It  has  an  active  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  the  second  organized  in  Lincoln,  the  first  having  been 
founded  in  the  First  Congregational  Church.  Its  Ladies'  Aid  and 
Missionary  Society  and  Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society  are  doing- 
good  work. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are:  Rev.  E.  S.  Ralston,  Pastor; 
J.  A,  Wallingford,  Clerk ;  W.  A.  Hackney,  Treasurer.  Trustees  —  J. 
A.  Lippincott,  W.  A.  Selleck,  J.  A.  Wallingford,  J.  P.  Walton,  and 
W.  A.  Hackney.     Deacons  —  J.  A.  Lippincott  and  Newton  King. 

A  Congregational  church  mission  is  now  doing  active  work  on  the 
north  side  of  N  street,  betAveen  Twenty-first  and  Twenty-second.  A 
Sunday-school  is  held  there,  of  which  Miss  Jennie  A.  Cole  is  Super- 
intendent. A  small  building  was  opened  there  for  the  mission  on  the 
last  Sunday  in  July,  its  dimensions  being  about  twenty-five  by  fifty 
feet.  This  mission  promises  to  soon  grow  into  the  third  organized 
Congregational  society  in  Lincoln,  It  has  been  named  the  "Pilgrim 
Congregational  Church." 

The  German  Congregational  Church  was  organized  in  the  spring  of 
1889,  by  Rev.  Adam  Frandt,  and  services  have  been  held  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Eighth  and  J  streets.  Though  one  of  the  latest  societies  formed 
in  the  city,  it  appears  to  be  prosperous  and  growing  in  membership. 


264  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  fir.st  service  of  the  Episcopal  cluireh  was  held  in  Lincoln  in 
May,  1868,  by  the  Rev.  11.  W.  Oliver,  D.  D.  On  the  17th  day  of 
Xovember  in  the  same  year,  the  Rev.  Geo.  C.  Betts,  of  Omaha,  held 
the  second  service,  and  of  those  who  were  present  only  one  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church.  Subsequently  the  Rt.  Rev.  R.  H.  Clarkson,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  the  diocese,  visited  the  city,  holding  services  and  preaching. 
About  this  time  the  Rev.  William  C.  Bolmar  was  appointed  mission- 
arv  in  charge.  In  January,  1869,  steps  were  taken  toward  the  or- 
o-anization  of  a  parish.  A  meeting  was  held,  at  which  were  present : 
Michael  Rudolph,  A,  F.  Harvey,  John  Morris,  J.  J.  Jones,  H.  S.  Jen- 
nings, E.  Godsall,  A.  C.  Rudolph,  John  G.  Morris,  R.  P.  Cady,  J. 
C.  Hire,  Wm.  C.  Heddleson,  S.  L.  Culver,  and  J.  S.  Moots,  who 
signed  a  petition  which  was  sent  to  the  Bishop,  praying  for  permission 
to  organize  a  parish,  under  the  title  of  "The  Church  of  the  Holy  Trin- 
ity." The  Bishop's  consent  having  been  granted,  on  the  10th  of  May 
the  same  year  another  meeting  was  held,  at  which  a  parish  organiza- 
tion was  effected,  by  the  election  of  a  vestry  consisting  of  Michael  Ru- 
dolf and  A.  F.  Harvey,  warders;  and  J.  J.  Jones,  A.  C.  Rudolf,  H. 
J.  Walsh,  Dr.  L.  H.  Robbins,  and  J.  M.  Bradford. 

The  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  council  of  the  diocese 
in  September  of  the  same  year.  The  congregation  worshiped  at  vari- 
ous places  in  the  city  until  1870.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Bolmar  left  the 
parish  in  February,  1870,  and  in  May  of  that  year  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Goodale  took  charge.  Measures  were  at  once  adopted  for  the  erection 
of  a  suitable  place  of  worship,  and  a  sufficient  sum  was  subscribed  to 
proceed  immediately  with  the  work. 

A  church  edifice  costing  $4,000  was  erected  at  the  corner  of  J  and 
Twelfth  streets,  on  lots  belonging  to  the  parish.  It  was  consecrated 
March  5,  1871.  At  the  end  of  a  year  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Talbott,  now 
at  Brown ville,  succeeded  the  Rev.  S.  Goodale,  and  continued  in  the 
rectorship  until  October,  1875.  In  April,  1876,  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Har- 
ris became  the  fourth  rector,  and  served  the  parish  for  seven  years. 
During  that  time  many  improvements  were  made.  A  rectory  was 
built,  trees  were  planted,  the  church  was  repainted,  a  pipe  organ  was 
purchased,  the  church  edifice  enlarged,  and  the  number  of  communi- 
cants rbsc  to  one  hundred  and  four. 

The  Rev.  J.  T.  Wright  came  in  November,  1883,  and  after  one 
year  gave  way  to  the  Rev.  Alex.  Allen.     During  the  rectorship  of 


Lincoln's  churches.  265 

Mr.  Allen  steps  were  taken  for  the  erection  of  a  new  and  larger  church. 
AVith  this  in  view,  Mr.  Guy  A.  Brown,  a  most  zealous  and  generous 
churchman,  issued  a  small  parish  paper,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to 
awaken  interest  in  the  enterprise.  On  June  14,  1888,  the  corner- 
stone of  the  new  church  was  laid  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Freemasons 
of  Nebraska,  Bishop  Worthington  also  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  ceremonies.  The  building  is  just  about  completed  at  this  writ- 
ing. It  is  built  of  Colorado  red  sandstone,  Gothic,  cruciform;  will 
cost  about  S35,000,  and  will  accommodate  about  500  people.  Holv 
Trinity  Church  is  the  mother  of  two  other  organizations  in  the  city. 
In  the  spring  of  1888  the  old  church  was  removed  to  a  lot  on  Twelfth 
street,  between  U  and  V,  and  a  congregation  was  organized  under  the 
ministry  of  the  Rev.  R.  L.  Stevens,  and  took  the  name  of"  The  Church 
of  the  Holy  Comforter.  In  1889  the  Holy  Trinity  Chapter  of  St. 
Andrew's  Brotherhood  came  into  possession  of  the  house  of  worship 
which  had  been  used  by  the  Baptists,  and  moved  it  to  a  lot  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Washington  and  Eighth  streets.  Regular  services  are  held  here 
by  the  rector  of  Holy  Trinity  and  a  lay  reader. 

The  working  agencies  of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  this  time 
are:  1.  The  Holy  Trinity  Chapter  of  St.  Andrew's  Brotherhood,  thirty- 
six  members.  2.  The  AVoman's  Aid  Society,  forty  members.  3.  The 
Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions,  110  contributors,  4. 
The  Altar  Guild,  twenty-eight  members. 

There  are  about  120  children  in  the  Sunday  School,  of  which  Mr. 
W.  L.  Murphy  is  Superintendent;  about  150  communicants,  and  about 
600  individuals  connected  with  the  parish. 

At  this  time,  July,  1889,  the  vestry  consists  of  the  following  named 
gentlemen  : 

H.  J.  Walsh,  Sen.  Warden;  J.  C.  Kier,  Jun.  Warden;  D.  R.  Lilli- 
bridge,  Secretary;  AV.  L.  Murphy,  Treasurer;  R.  H.  Oakley,  J.  F. 
Barnard,  E.  P.  Holmes,  James  Hearn,  and  C.  H.  Rudge.  The  Rev. 
John  Hewith  became  rector  March  1,  1889,  before  the  completion  of 
the  new  church. 

Prominent  among  the  religious  denominations  of  the  city  is  the 
First  Baptist  Church.  The  Baptist  Society  is  one  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous and  progressive  in  the  city,  and  its  new  edifice  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  K  and  Fourteenth  streets  is  a  beautiful  structure  costing  about 

18 


THE    KIR«T    IJAI'TIST    cm'KCH. 


Lincoln's  churches.  267 

$40,000.  The  new  and  handsome  parsonage  is  situated  on  a  lot  im- 
mediately west  of  the  church.  A  brief  historical  sketch  of  this  society 
in  Lincoln  is  here  given. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  was  organized  August 
22,  1869,  with  fourteen  members.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  O.  T. 
Conger,  mIio  began  his  labors  here  in  June,  1870,  and  remained  four 
and  one-half  years,  until  January,  1875.  During  his  pastorate  the 
church  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  L  streets  was  erected 
and  169    persons  were  received  as  members  of  the  church. 

In  October,  1875,  Rev.  S.  M.  Cramblet  became  the  pastor,  and  re- 
mained two  years,  during  which  time  fifty-six  members  were  received. 

In  May,  1875,  Rev.  W.  Sauford  Gee  began  a  pastorate  of  three  and 
one-third  years,during  which  the  parsonage  on  L  street  was  built,  and 
110  members  were  re(;eived. 

In  January,  1882,  Rev.  Dr.  Chaffee  began  his  pastorate,  which 
continued  one  and  three-fourths  years,  during  which  115  members 
were  received. 

May  4,  1884,  Rev.  C.  C.  Pierce  began  his  labors  with  this  church. 
During  the  latter  part  of  his  pastorate,  a  large  subscription  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  a  new  church  edifice  was  secured,  and  three  lots  at 
the  corner  of  K  and  14th  streets  were  purchased.  Rev.  Mr.  Pierce 
resigned  September  5,  1886,  having  received  120  members  into  the 
church  during  his  pastorate. 

The  church  immediately  extended  a  call  to  Rev.  O.  A.  Williams, 
who  accepted  it,  and  began  his  labors  in  November,  1886.  Lender  his 
ministry  the  church  has  been  very  prosperous.  About  200  members 
have  been  added  since  he  commenced  his  pastorate  here;  the  large 
church  building  has  been  erected,  and  branches  of  the  denomination 
have  been  organized  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  of  which  he  has  gen- 
eral charge.  A  prosperous  Sunday  School  is  maintained,  besides  the 
usual  subordinate  organizations  that  are  associated  with  all  leading 
church  societies.  The  membership  is  large  and  numbers  many  of  our 
best  and  most  influential  people. 

The  officers  of  the  First  church  are  as  follows : 

Rev.  O.  A.  Williams,  Pastor;  S.  P.  Bingham,  Treasurer;  P.  S. 
Chapman,  Clerk;  L.  C.  Humphrey,  Treasurer  of  Building  Fund. 
Board  of  Trustees :  C.  W.  Sholes,  chairman ;  Geo.  H.  Clarke,  L.  G. 
M.  Baldwin,  L.  C.  Humphrey,  E.  E.  Bennett. 


268  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LIXCOLX. 

Three  Baptist  Missions  have  been  organized  in  the  city,  where  Sun- 
day Schools  are  maintained,  and  of  which  Kev.  O.  A.  AVillianis  is  the 
mission  pastor.  One  of  these  missions  is  at  the  corner  of  J  and  Twen- 
tieth streets,  Mr.  L.  G.  M.  Baklwin  being  Superintendent  of  its  Sunday 
School.  The  North  Lincoln  Mission  is  quite  prosperous,  and  will 
soon  bnild  a  church  to  cost  S3,000.  Mr.  H.  J.  Humphrey  is  Super- 
intendent of  its  Sunday  School,  which  is  held  at  the  corner  of  Twelfth 
and  Butler  avenue. 

The  East  Lincoln  Mission  is  located  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-sev- 
enth and  W  streets,  and  Mr.  S.  S.  McKinney  is  Superintendent  of  its 
Sunday  School. 

The  Central  Church  of  Christ  in  the  City  of  Lincoln  was  organ- 
ized with  twenty-eight  charter  members,  on  January  24th,  1860. 
Their  first  place  of  meeting  was  in  the  house  of  J.  M.  Yearnshaw, 
who  was  also  their  first  regular  minister.  Miss  Julia  McCoy,  now 
Mrs.  Marshall,  and  still  a  member  of  this  congregation,  was  the  first 
person  immersed  by  them  in  Lincoln.  The  private  house  becoming 
too  small,  their  place  of  meeting  was  changed  to  the  old  capitol 
building,  and  here  they  spent  the  fall  and  winter  of  '69.  Joseph 
Robinson  was  the  first  elder  of  the  church,  and  Bros.  Haw'k  and 
Akin  its  first  deacons.  On  July  3d,  1869,  out  at  Crabb's  mill,  on  Salt 
creek,  the  initial  steps  were  taken  toward  the  erection  of  a  house  of 
worship.  G.  W.  French,  J.  M.  Yearnshaw,  and  J.  H.  Hawk,  were 
appointed  a  building  committee.  Slowly,  and  yet  with  patient  per- 
sistence, the  work  went  on,  until  on  July  .3d,  1870,  the  church  house 
now  standing  on  the  northwest  corner  of  K  and  Tenth  streets  was 
dedicated.  Here,  with  varying  success  and  fiiilure,  with  mingling 
lights  and  shadows,  the  church  has  worshiped  until  this  writing. 

On  April  23,  1871,  the  first  Sunday  School  of  any  moment  was 
organized,  with  J.  Z.  Briscoe  as  Superintendent  and  C.  C.  Munson  as 
assistant. 

Since  the  time  of  J.  M.  Yearnshaw  the  church  has  enjoyed  the 
pastoral  lalxjrs  of  D.  R.  Dungan,  J.  Z.  Briscoe,  J.  B.  Johnson,  J. 
Mad.  Williams,  J.  M.  Streator,  B.  F.  Bush,  Chas.  Crowther,  R.  E. 
Swartz,  R.  H.  Ingram,  and  Chas.  B.  Newman,  the  last  named  occu- 
jn'ing  its  ])ulpit  now. 

The  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Lincoln  would  be  sadly  in- 


THE    CHRISTIAN    CHURCH. 


270  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

complete  without  special  mention  of  Bro.  Barrow's  counsel  and 
})atient,  helpful  care  eyer  since  its  organization. 

The  history  of  the  years  from  '71  until  '87  is  about  such  as  comes 
to  the  average  church.  The  church  now  numbers  some  460.  It  has 
a  house  and  lot  in  West  Lincoln,  and  also  a  good  lot  in  East  Lincoln- 
Kegular  preaching  and  Sunday  school  services  are  held  at  all  of  these 
places,  and  are  well  attended. 

The  church  has  an  "Auxiliary  to  the  Christian  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions,"  and  an  efficient  "Aid  Society."  It  has  a  large  "Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,"  and  a  "  Young  Ladies'  Mis- 
sion Band."     Its  present  official  board  comprises  the  following: 

Elders. — J.  Z.  Briscoe,  Geo.  Leavitt,  G.  E.  Barbar,  E.  D.  Harris. 

Deacons. — Porter  Hedge,  J.  M.  Webber,  J.  A.  Reynolds,  C.  R. 
Van  Duyn,  W.  S.  Mills,  S.  S.  Young,  S.  M.  Dotson,  L.  G.  Leavitt. 

Deaconesses. — Mrs.  Martha  Hallett,  Mrs.  Martha  Hedge. 

Evangelists. — Chas.  B.  Newman,  R.  W.  Abberly. 

Of  its  Sunday  School  Chas.  C.  Munson  is  the  efficient  Superin- 
tendent. 

In  the  fall  of  1886,  realizing  that  it  would  soon  be  necessary 
to  provide  larger  and  more  commodious  quarters,  the  church  pur- 
chasal  two  lots  on  the  northeast  corner  of  K  and  Fourteenth  streets, 
and  earl/ in  1887  steps  were  taken  looking  toward  the  erection  of  a 
new  house  of  worship.  Finally,  after  much  consultation  and  delay, 
on  October  25,  1887,  plans  were  chosen  and  a  building  committee, 
consisting  of  J.  Z.  Briscoe,  G.  E.  Barber,  O.  C.  Bell,  Porter  Hedge,  and 
C.  C.  Munson,  was  chosen.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  July  3,  1888, 
President  A.  R.  Benton,  of  Indianapolis,  making  the  address.  The 
church  was  dedicated  on  Sunday,  August  25,  1881),  with  impressive 
services.  It  is  a  most  beautiful  structure,  one  of  Avhich  the  church 
may  well  be  proud. 

The  First  Free  Baptist  Church  of  Lincoln  was  organized  May  2, 
1886,  with  eighteen  members,  electing  Rev.  A.  F.  Bryant  pastor,  A. 
]).  Baker  deacon,  and  G.  W.  Sisson  secretary. 

Land  was  purchased  on  the  corner  of  F  and  Fourteenth  streets, 
and  a  church  house  erected  in  the  same  year  of  the  organization,  and 
was  occupied,  though  not  wholly  completed.  Meanwhile  Rev.  Bry- 
ant removed,  and    Pev.  \\.  F.  McKcnney  succeeded  to  the  pastorate. 


Lincoln's  churches.  271 

remaining  one  year.     Rev.  ().  E.  Baker,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  was 
elected,  and  commenced  his  labors  with  the  church  April  1st,  1888. 

By  the  liberality  of  friends,  and  the  aid  of  the  Home  Mission  Board, 
the  church  house  was  completed  and  dedicated  in  June,  1888,  the 
pastor  preaching  the  sermon,  and  Rev.  E.  H.  Curtis,  D.I).,  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Rev.  O.  W.  Williams,  D.D.,  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church,  assisting. 

The  First  Uuiversalist  Society  of  Lincoln  was  organized  at  tiic  resi- 
dence of  J.  D.  Monell,  September  1, 1870,  with  W.  W.  Holmes,  8.  J. 
Tuttle,  J.  N.  Parker,  Mrs.  Sarah  Parker,  Mrs.  Julia  Brown,  Mrs. 
Laura  B.  Pound,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Monell,  as  charter  members.  About 
this  time  the  property  now  in  the  possession  of  the  society,  on  the 
corner  of  Twelfth  and  H  streets,  was  secured  by  grant  from  the  Leg- 
islature of  the  State.  A  subscription  was  also  begun,  looking  toward 
the  erection  of  a  chapel.  In  the  meantime  the  society  held  occasional 
services  for  worship  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  in  the  old  Capitol  build- 
ing. During  the  month  of  December  of  this  same  year  Rev.  Asa 
Saxe,  D.  D.,  General  Secretary  of  the  Universalist  denomination,  vis- 
ited Lincoln  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  it  would  be  ad- 
visable to  make  this  a  missionary  point.  His  decision  was  favorable 
to  such  a  movement.  Consequently,  with  the  financial  aid  of  the 
denomination,  the  society  was  able  to  call  Rev.  James  Gerton,  then  of 
Illinois,  to  be  its  first  pastor.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  began 
work  in  September,  1871.  The  following  October  the  corner-stone 
of  the  chapel  was  laid,  and  on  Sunday,  June  23,  1872,  it  was  dedicated. 

All  this  was  brought  about  largely  through  the  efforts  of  one  de- 
voted w^omau,  Mrs.  Mary  Monell.  It  was  she  who  first  gathered  the 
few  scattered  Universalists  in  the  place  together.  Unaided  she  raised 
the  subscription  to  build  the  chapel ;  she  collected  the  funds,  saw  that 
the  work  was  done,  and  paid  the  bills.  The  early  records  of  the  so- 
ciety reveal  the  zeal  and  fidelity  with  which  she  did  her  work,  the 
many  difficulties  with  which  she  had  to  contend,  and  her  final  tri- 
umph. Mrs.  Monell  must  always  be  looked  upon  as  the  patron  saint 
of  the  First  Universalist  Society  of  Lincoln. 

In  1873  the  denomination  was  so  badly  crippled  by  the  panic  of 
the  year  before  that  it  was  unable  to  continue  its  financial  aid  to  the 
society ;  and  as  the  society  was  not  strong  enough  to  support  a  pastor 


272  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

of  its  own  accord,  Eev.  Mr.  Gcrton,  after  remaining  two  years,  was 
forced  to  resign  his  charge.  For  nearly  ten  years  after  this  the  society 
had  no  settled  pastor.  Preaching  services  were  held  only  occasionally 
and  as  I'niversalist  clergyman  Mere  passing  through  the  city,  or  stop- 
])inii  ill  it  for  a  short  time.  During  a  portion  of  this  time  the  chapel 
was  rented  to  other  religious  organizations.  The  society  continued  in 
existence,  hoMcver,  and  in  the  spring  of  I880  the  trustees  of  the  Uni- 
vcrr-alist  (General  Convention  made  arrangements  with  Rev.  E.  H. 
Chapin,  the  present  pastor,  to  come  to  Lincoln  and  take  charge  of  the 
Mork.  l\ev.  Mr.  Chapin  has  now  been  with  the  society  something 
over  six  vears,  and  during  that  time  has  quite  thoroughly  identified 
himself  with  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  benevolent,  interests  of  the 
city.  Year  by  year  the  society  has  continued  to  gather  to  itself  num- 
bers and  strength.  The  parsonage,  now  standing  on  one  of  the  church 
lots,  was  completed  in  1886.  Connected  with  the  church  as  auxiliary 
organizations  are  the  Unity  Club,  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society,  and  the 
Young  People's  Missionary  Association. 

Trinity  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  was  organized  No- 
vember 24, 1881,  with  five  members,  Rev.  F.  Koenig,  now  of  Seward, 
Neb.,  presiding.  The  present  jjastor,  H.  Frincke,  took  charge  of  the 
congregation  in  April,  1882.  During  the  first  year  services  were  held 
in  a  small  church  building  corner  N  and  Thirteenth,  the  present  site 
of  the  new  Y.  M.  C.  A.  rooms.  The  following  three  years  the  con- 
gregation assembled  in  the  Universalist  church,  on  Twelfth,  between 
H  and  J  streets.  In  the  spring  of  1886  the  new  church  was  occu- 
l)ietl,  located  on  H,  between  Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth  streets.  In 
the  rear  of  this  church  building  a  school-room  accommodating  ninety 
])iipils  was  built.  This  department  of  the  church  work  is  under  the 
<lir('ction  of  teacher  F.  Ilellmann,  whose  school  now  numbers  seventy 
]m])ils,  who  attend  the  school  daily,  except  Saturday  and  Sunday. 
This  gentleman,  togetlicr  witli  the  pastor,  is  sustained  solely  by  the 
<:oiigrcgati()n. 

The  uiiahered  Augsburg  Confession,  and  its  Ajjology,  the  Formula 
of  Concord,  the  two  catechisms  of  Luther,  the  Apostolic,  Nicene,  and 
Athanasian  Creeds,  form  the  confessions  of  this  church.  It  belongs 
to  that  great  I^utheran  organization,  the  Missouri  Synod.  The  pres- 
ent officers  are:  Messrs.  H.  Herpolsheimer,  11.  Witte,  Peter  Grafel- 


Lincoln's  churches.  273 

mann,  trustees  and  elders.  The  status  of  the  congregation  is  as 
follows:  Souls,  400;  voting  members  —  i.e.,  male  members  of  and 
above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  —  60 ;  communicants  —  /.  c,  all  such 
as  are  allowed  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper — 285.  The  current 
expenses  amount  to  about  $1,500  annually.  The  valuable  pro])crty 
is  free  from  all  incumbrances.  Services  every  Sunday  at  10  a.  yi.  and 
3  P.M.     Evening  services  every  other  Sunday  at  8  p.  m. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  1872, 
by  Rev.  G.  W.  Gaines,  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Nebraska  district.  The 
pioneer  organization  was  composed  of  but  eleven  members.  Its  place 
of  worship  was  located  upon  the  north  side  of  E  street,  between  Tenth 
and  Eleveuth,  in  1873,  on  lots  donated  by  the  State,  where  the  home 
of  the  society  still  remains,  including  the  parsonage.  A  large  and 
handsome  building  is  now  being  erected  there,  which  will  cost,  when 
completed,  $6,000. 

The  society  is  now  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  has  a  growing 
membership,  numbering  110.  The  Rev.  J.  W.  Braxton  is  the  pastor 
in  charge.     He  is  a  popular  and  successful  man  with  his  people. 

A  prosperous  Sunday  School  is  now  maintained  by  this  society,  com- 
prising 100  scholars,  with  a  library  in  connection  therewith  number- 
ing four  hundred  volumes. 

There  are  two  other  colored  church  societies  in  the  city,  but  they 
are  in  a  weak  and  disorganized  condition. 

Besides  the  churches  already  mentioned,  there  are  a  number  not  so 
well  established,  but  which  deserve  a  place  in  a  descriptive  sketch  of 
Lincoln.  Among  these  is  the  Mount  Zion  Baptist  Church,  located  at 
the  corner  of  F  and  Twelfth  streets.  This  church  maintains  regular 
services  and  a  pastor,  Rev.  J.  L.  Cohron. 

Besides  the  German  Evangelical  Lutheran,  there  are  other  societies 
belonging  to  the  Lutheran  denomination.  One  is  Our  Savior's  Dan- 
ish, located  at  216  South  Twenty-third  street,  of  which  Rev.  P.  L.  C. 
Hanson  is  pastor,  and  H.  J.  Nellson  clerk.  Another  is  the  Swedish 
church,  located  on  K,  between  Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth,  Rev.  F. 
N.  Swanberg  pastor.  A  third  is  St.  Paul's  German,  at  F  and  Thir- 
i^enth,  Rev.  H.  Heiner  pastor. 

All  these  churches  enjoy  regular  service,  and  supjjort  Sunday  Schools. 


274  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  Swedish  Methodist  Society  is  just  becoming  well  organizetl. 

A  prosperous  church  has  been  started  at  Wesleyan  University,  whielt 
maintains  the  usual  services,  and  of  which  Dr.  C.  F.  Creighton  is  pas- 
tor. 

The  Reformed  Hebrew  Congregation  is  the  society  of  the  leading^ 
Hebrew  people  of  the  city.  S.  Seligsohn  is  President,  M,  ()p])en- 
heimer  A'ice  President,  W.  Meyer  Secretary,  and  I.  Oppenheimer 
Treasurer. 

During  the  present  year  the  Salvation  Army  disbanded. 

The  Seventh-day  Adventists  hold  services  at  the  corner  of  Fifteenth: 
and  E  streets.     Rev.  L.  A.  Hooper  is  pastor. 

The  Swedish  Mission  is  located  at  233  South  Ninth  street,  with 
Rev.  C.  (jr.  r.  Johnson  as  pastor. 

The  United  Brethren  Society  holds  its  meetings  at  Eleventh  and  B 
streets.  Rev.  J.  Olive  pastor. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Lincoln  was  organized 
in  January,  1880,  with  thirteen  members.  The  following  officers  were 
elected:  President,  A.  O.  Geisinger ;  Vice  President,  Richard  George; 
Secretary,  W.  W.  Peet;  Treasurer,  M.  L.  Easterday. 

Robert  Weidensall,  the  veteran  Secretary  of  the  International  Com- 
mittee, was  present  at  the  organization,  and  has  ever  since  had  a  deep 
interest  in  the  progress  of  the  association.  After  four  years'  experi- 
ence the  association  decided  that  the  only  way  to  keep  abreast  with  like 
associations  in  other  cities  was  to  employ  a  competent  General  Secre- 
tary. After  considerable  correspondence,  and  through  the  heljj  of  the 
International  Committee,  the  present  General  Secretary,  Jas.  A.  Dum- 
mett,  was  recommended  as  a  suitable  young  man  to  carry  forward  the 
work.  Mr.  Dummett  is  a  graduate  of  Ad  rain  College,  Michigan,  and 
had  l)een  an  active  worker  in  the  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  Y.  M.  C.  .V.  for 
five  years.  On  the  sixth  day  of  August,  1884,  Mr.  Dunniiett  arrived 
in  Lincoln,  and  during  his  five  years  of  faithful  and  efficient  service, 
has  succeeded  in  building  up  one  of  the  strongest  associations  west  of 
Chicago.  The  association  during  the  past  five  years  has  kept  })ace 
with  the  rapid  growth  of  tlie  city.  A\  lien  the  ])iesent  Secretary  ar- 
rivc(l  tiic  association  was  occu[)ying  rooms  i'or  which  they  were  ])ay- 
ing  the  sum  of  S12,50  })er  month,  with  a  membcrsiiip  of  one  hundred. 
To-day  the  association  is  pleasantly  situated  in  a  handsome  suite  of  six 
rooms  in  the  McConncll  block,  141  South   Tenth  street,  with  a  pres- 


Lincoln's  churches. 


275 


ent  membership  of  five  hundred.  The  association  has  entirely  out- 
grown its  present  surroundings,  and  on  the  24th  day  of  July  the 
contract  was  let  for  a  $60,000  association  building,  to  be  erected  on 
the  southwest  corner  of  N  and  Thirteenth  streets,  to  be  completed  by 
September  1,  1890. 


Y.  M.  C.  A.  BUILDING. 


The  building  will  be  a  very  handsome  structure,  and  when  com- 
pleted it  will  not  only  be  an  ornament  to  the  city,  but  a  great  blessing 
to  the  multitudes  of  young  men  who  need  just  such  privileges  as  the 
association  can  offer  them  in  a  building  specially  adapted  to  its  work. 

The  following  well-known  business  men  constitute  the  present  offi- 


276  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

cers  and  directors:  J.  H.  Moekett  sr.,  President;  John  R.  Clark, 
First  Xicii  Pre.sidcnt ;  8.  H.  Burnliani,  Second  Vice  President ;  John 
L.  Doty,  Third  Vice  President;  Capt.  J.  AV.  Winger,  Recording  Sec- 
retary; M.  L.  Easterday,  Treasurer.  Dr.  Benj.  F.  Bailey,  A.  R.  Tal- 
bott,  E.  E.  Bennett,  Chas.  West,  J.  J.  Imhoff,  A.  S.  Raymond,  J.  Z. 
Briscoe,  A.  H.  Weir,  C.  C.  Munson,  Directors. 

The  following  members  of  the  board  constitute  the  Building  Com- 
mittee :  John  R.  Clark,  Chairman ;  C.  C.  JMunson,  Secretary ;  A.  H- 
W^eir,  Treasurer  ;  Chas.  AVest  and  A.  R.  Talbott.  Ferdinand  C.  Fiske 
is  the  architect,  and  Louis  Jensen  the  contractor. 


SECRET    AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  277 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Secket  Orders — The  First  Lodge  Organized  in  Lincoln— Historical 
Sketch  of  all  the  Principal  Orders  Now  in  the  City— Other 
Societies  DESER%aNG  Mention. 

The  characteristic  of  man  to  plant  his  hearthstone  and  religious  in- 
stitutions as  soon  as  possible  upon  settling  in  a  new  country,  manifests 
itself  almost  equally  in  reference  to  his  social  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions. Hence  we  find  that  almost  as  soon  as  the  early  residents  of 
Lincoln  had  established  their  homes,  secret  orders  were  founded,  the 
first  one  to  set  up  its  altars  in  the  city  being  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows.  The  history  of  Odd  Fellowship  in  I^incoln  com- 
mences almost  at  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  city,  the  first  lodge 
being  organized  on  the  21st  of  April,  1868. 

Two  of  the  State  Commissioners  appointed  to  locate  the  capital  — 
Gov.  David  Bntler  and  Secretary  of  State  Thomas  Kennard — were 
members  of  the  order  in  good  standing.  Their  duties,  however,  in 
giving  the  initial  impetus  to  a  new  State,  and  laying  the  foundation 
of  its  capital,  occupied  their  time  to  such  an  extent  that  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  subordinate  lodge  was  left  mainly  to  other  men  and 
members. 

The  lodge  first  organized  was  Capital  Lodge  No.  11,  and  its  charter 
was  committed  to  the  hands  of  W.  H.  Stubblefield,  Max  Rich,  Sam- 
uel McClay,  L.  A.  Ouyett,  and  Samuel  Leland.  At  the  organization 
Max  Rich  was  installed  as  N.  G.;  Samuel  McClay,  Y.  G.;  Samuel 
Leland,  Secretary;  and  L.  A.  Onyett,  Treasurer.  W.  H.  Stubblefield 
was  appointed  District  Deputy  Grand  Master. 

The  lodge  was  instituted  by  the  Hon.  George  H.  Burgert,  of  Ne- 
braska City,  who  was  at  tliat  time  Grand  Master. 

Three  members  were  received  into  membership  at  that  time,  viz., 
L.  Lavender,  by  deposit  of  card,  and  S.  B,  Pound  and  Seth  Robin- 
son by  initiation. 

The  lodge  was  instituted  in  the  limited  second  story  of  a  frame 
building  standing  on  the  ground  now  known  as  No.  123  South  Tenth 


278  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

street,  tlie  first  floor  being   occupied   as  a  drug  store  kept   by  Mr. 
Tingley. 

On  the  18th  day  of  October,  1870,  the  Grand  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
of  Nebraska,  hekl  its  thirteenth  annual  session  in  Lincoln,  using  the 
Senate  Chamber  of  the  okl  capitol  buikling. 

At  that  session,  ujion  the  petition  of  Bros.  M.  Rich,  S.  McCiay, 
John  Lamb,  I\.  A.  Bain,  Charles  Hasbrouck,  M.  G.  Bohanan  ;  and 
Sisters  8.  E.  Lamb,  R.  Oppcnheimer,  P.  E.  Helman,  A.  Bain,  and  L. 
E.  Bax,  a  dispensation  was  given  to  organize  a  lodge  of  the  degree  of 
the  Daughters  of  Rebekah,  to  be  known  as  Charity  Lodge  No.  2. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  the  lodge  was  duly  instituted  by  Grand 
Master  John  Hamlin,  supported  by  the  officers  and  members  of  the 
Grand  Lodge.  After  adjournnient  a  reception  and  banquet  was  given 
the  Grand  Lodge  and  the  members  of  No.  2,  by  Governor  David  But- 
ler and  his  wife,  at  which  many  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Lincoln  were 
present.  In  memory  of  this  occasion,  and  as  an  appreciation  of  its 
lasting  fitness,  the  lodge  has  ever,  with  eminent  success,  kejDt  up  the 
social  feature  inauourated  on  thatevenino-. 

In  1871,  among  the  members  of  Capital  Lodge  and  those  of  other 
lodges  sojourning  at  Lincoln,  a  number  were  found  who  desired  an 
organization  in  which  they  could  work  in  the  higher  or  encampment 
degrees  of  Oddfellowship.  Accordingly,  on  the  7th  day  of  April  of 
that  year,  a  charter  was  granted  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United 
States,  giving  authority  to  organize  a  subordinate  Encampment  in 
Lincoln,  to  be  known  and  hailed  as  Saline  Encampment  No.  4.  On 
the  12th  day  of  May  the  encampment  was  instituted  by  District  Dep- 
uty Grand  Sire  St.  John  Goodrich,  of  Omaha. 

The  officers  were  Samuel  M.  Clay,  C.  P.;  W.  P.  Ensey,  H.  P.;  J. 
C.  Ford,  8.  W.;  M.  G.  Bohanan,  J.  W.;  Charles  Purcell,  Scribe,  and 
Isaac  Oppenheimer,  Treasurer. 

Success  has  crowned  its  labors  since  the  time  of  its  orpanization. 

On  tiic  first  day  of  July,  1872,  the  Grand  Encampment  of  the  Pa- 
triarchal I5raiicli  I.  O.  O.  F.  of  Nebraska,  was  instituted,  in  the  hall 
of  Ca])ital  Lodge,  the  hall  being  then  located  in  the  third  story  of  No. 
1023  O  street.  The  Grand  Encampment  was  composed  of  the  Past 
Chief  Patriarchs  of  the  then  five  Subordinate  Encampments  in  the 
State.  It  was  instituted  by  St.  John  Goodrich,  the  District  Dep- 
uty Grand  Sire. 


SECRET    AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  279 

The  grand  officers  were  D.  A.  Cline,  of  No.  1,  Grand  Patriarch; 
John  Hamlin,  Xo.  1,  Grand  High  Priest;  W.  L.  Wells,  No.  .3,  Grand 
Senior  Warden;  John  Evans,  No.  2,  Grand  Scribe;  D.  H.  Wheeler, 
No.  3,  Grand  Treasurer ;  H.  A.  Wakefield,  of  No.  5,  Grand  Junior 
Warden;  and  St.  John  Goodrich,  of  No.  2,  Grand  Representative  to 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States. 

In  1873  the  order  had  progressed  so  far  that  it  Avas  deemed  expe- 
dient to  organize  another  lodge.  Accordingly  about  the  1st  of  May 
fifteen  members,  belonging  to  as  many  different  lodges  in  diflPerent 
parts  of  the  county,  united  in  a  petition  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ne- 
braska for  a  new  subordinate.  The  petition  was  granted,  and  on  the 
5th  day  of  June,  1873,  the  lodge  was  instituted  by  D,  D.Grand  Sire 
St.  John  Goodrich,  to  be  known  as  Lancaster  Lodge  No.  39. 

The  first  officers  were  J.  H.  Wheeler,  N.  G.;  J.  C.  Ford,  Y.  G. ; 
O.  M.  Druse,  Secretary;  and  M.  K.  Fleming,  Treasurer. 

J.  H.  Harley  was  the  first  initiate.  The  lodge  has  succeeded  ac- 
cording to  expectations. 

The  next  lodge,  Germania  No.  67,  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  could  best  work  in  their  native  German  vernacular.  The 
lodffe  was  instituted  with  ten  charter  members,  on  the  11th  of  De- 
cember,  1877,  by  Hon.  H.  W.  Parker,  of  Beatrice,  who  was  Grand 
Master  of  the  order  at  that  time.  The  first  officers  were:  George 
AVebber,  N.  G. ;  G.  Rasgarshik,  V.  G, ;  Aug.  Droste,  Secretary;  and 
G.  R.  Wolf,  Treasurer.  Seven  parties  were  initiated.  The  advant- 
ages it  brought,  and  its  success  in  more  closely  fraternizing  a  large 
number  of  the  German  element  in  Lincoln,  demonstrated  that  the 
judgment  that  gave  existence  to  the  new  lodge  was  well  founded.  It 
has,  perhaps,  dispensed  as  large  a  benefice,  both  material  and  atten- 
tive, as  any  lodge  in  the  city. 

March  29,  1881,  a  charter  was  granted  for  what  is  knoAvn  among 
Odd  Fellows  as  a  degree  lodge.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  it 
was  instituted  by  Grand  Secretary  D.  A.  Cline,  acting  under  a  special 
commission.  It  was  known  as  Magic  Degree  Lodge  No.  2.  It  ex- 
isted but  a  short  time. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1885,  Ford  Uniformed  Degree  Camp 
No.  2  was  instituted  by  Isaac  Oppenheimer,  Grand  Patriarch.  The 
members  procured  an  expensive  uniform  and  acquired  great  profi- 
ciency in  the  peculiar  drills  of  the  order,  which  are  of  a  military 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LIXCOLN. 

character.  James  Tvler  was  elected  captain.  This  organization  con- 
tinued and  prospered  until  March,  1887,  when  it  was  merged  into  an 
organization  of  more  enlarged  purpose  and  of  much  grander  propor- 
tions, known  as  the  Patriarchs  Militant,  I.  O.  O.  F.  The  style  of 
the  uniform  was  materially  changed.  From  that  time  Ford  Uni- 
formed Degree  Camp  Xo.  2  was,  and  still  is,  known  as  Canton  Ford 
Xo.  2  P.  M.     Chevalier  James  Tyler  again  took  the  office  of  captain. 

As  Lincoln  grew  in  size  and  importance  as  a  city,  so  did  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  as  one  of  its  benevolent  and  frater- 
nal institutions,  until  a  new  lodge  was  deemed  to  be  necessary.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  22d  day  of  January,  1886,  Grand  Master  Arthur 
Gibson,  of  Fremont,  placed  the  charter  for  Lincoln  Lodge  Xo.  138  in 
the  hands  of  the  following  members:  J.  E.  Douglas,  L.  C.  Dunn, 
Charles  J.  Heffley,  C.  D.  Hyatt,  O.  P.  Dinges,  E.  T.  Roberts,  D, 
F.  Dinges,  A.  H.  Hutton,  John  Hill,  S.  M.  Hartzell,  S.  ^V.  Long, 
T.  F.  Lasch,  J.  D.  Hurd,  and  W.  D.  Fowler,  and  organized  them 
into  a  lodge.     It  prospered  as  all  the  lodges  have  up  to  this  date. 

In  an  organization  where  the  beneficial  feature  distinguishes  it  par- 
ticularly, each  lodge  must  make  it  a  chief  object  not  only  to  have 
money  in  its  treasury,  but  a  reserve  in  the  shape  of  real  estate  or  in 
some  productive  form,  so  as  to  make  good  all  its  promises  and  pledges 
to  members  in  their  day  of  need.  With  such  an  object  in  view,  nu- 
merous schemes  were  proposed  and  debated  from  time  to  time  by  the 
lodges.  It  was  granted  that  something  was  needed  which  would  at 
the  same  time  afford  accommodations  as  a  lodge  room  and  as  a  source 
of  revenue.  Until  the  spring  of  1881  but  little  was  accomplished. 
On  the  3d  day  of  May,  1881,  articles  of  incorporation  were  adopted, 
executed,  and  filed,  which  brought  into  existence  "  The  Odd  Fellows' 
Hall  Association,  of  Lincoln,  X"eb.,"  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000. 
The  stock  was  soon  taken.  On  the  1st  day  of  June  the  first  regular 
meeting  of  the  stockholders  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
permanent  organization.  At  this  meeting  D.  A.  Cline  was  elected 
President ;  Charles  T.  Boggs,  Secretary ;  W.  W.  Holmes,  Treasurer, 
and  a  board  of  directors  composed  of  nine  stockholders,  to  hold  their 
office  for  three  years. 

I..and  was  secured  on  the  northeast  corner  of  L  and  Eleventh 
streets,  and  by  the  summer  of  1882  a  fine-appearing  and  substantial 
brick  edifice,  four  stories  in  height,  with  two  business  rooms,  was- 


SECRET   AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  281 

completed,  when  the  different  Odd  Fellow  organizations  then  in  the 
city  found  themselves  housed  with  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences 
necessary. 

The  scheme  proved  a  success,  and  placed  the  two  lodges  participat- 
ing in  the  ownership,  Nos.  11  and  39,  on  a  solid  financial  basis. 

In  the  year  J  868  Pythianism  first  obtained  a  foothold  on  Nebraska 
soil,  through  the  efforts  of  Captain  George  Crager,who,  coming  direct 
from  the  birthplace  of  the  order,  planted  its  good  seed  with  vigor  and 
earnestness.  August  28,  1871,  John  Q.  Goss,  the  Grand  Chancellor, 
assisted  by  P.  G.  C.  George  Crager,  G.  Iv.  of  R.  and  S. ;  E.  E.  French, 
G.  M.  A.;  T.  J.  Lane,  and  Knight  Henry  Lauer,  visited  Lincoln  and 
instituted  Lincoln  Lodge  No.  8,  K.  of  P.,  the  first  lodge  in  this  city 
and  the  only  one  instituted  that  year  in  the  State. 

The  lodge  flourished  in  numbers  and  finances,  and  the  members 
were  the  most  honored  citizens  of  the  then  small  but  flourishino-  cap- 
ital city.  In  1878  the  lodge  succumbed  to  financial  reverses  and  other 
causes,  and  surrendered  its  charter  in  November  oi'  that  year. 

In  December  a  few  of  the  old  Knights  strong  in  the  spirit,  with 
others,  petitioned  for  a  new  charter.  This  was  granted  December  3, 
1873,  by  Judge  J.  W.  Carter,  Grand  Chancellor,  and  the  first  meeting 
for  institution  was  held  in  the  attic  of  the  old  opera  house.  The  first 
officers  were:  C.  C,  A.  Meyer;  V.  C,  G,  B.  Harris;  K.  of  R.  and 
S.,D.  Kalor;  M.  of  Ex.,  F.  E.  Smith;  M.  of  F.,  M.  J.  Percival;  P., 
P.  H.  Cooper.  The  lodge  has  met  with  various  reverses  and  successes. 
It  moved  from  place  to  place  until  finally  it  settled  in  the  old  Masonic 
Hall,  corner  of  Tenth  and  O  streets,  which  is  now  completely  fitted 
up  with  lodge  room,  banquet  room,  kitchen,  etc.,  for  lodge  purposes. 
It  has  been  honored  by  the  Grand  Lodge  in  the  selection  of  six  of  it& 
members  to  the  office  of  Grand  Chancellor,  and  with  eighteen  subor- 
dinate offices.  Its  present  membership  is  186,  and  it  possesses  prop- 
erty valued  at  $3,800.  Its  present  officers  are:  P.  C,  H.  M.  Shaeffer  -,. 
C.  C,  T.  M.  Cooke;  V.  C,  S.  A.  \farner;  P.,  H.  C.  Fredericks; 
K.  of  R.  and  S.,  Banks  Stewart;  M.  F.,  J.  W.  Percival;  M.  of  Ex., 
M.  Hooker;  M.  A.,  Wm.  Chichester;  I.  G.,  J.  J.Young;  O.  G.,  C. 
A.  Risings. 

In  the  year  1884  some  of  the  young  blood  of  No.  16  conceived  the 
idea  that  another  lodge  of  Knights  of  Pythias  would  be  of  benefit  to 
19 


282  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

the  order  in  tlii^  citv.  A  petition  to  the  (xrand  Chancellor  resulted 
in  a  dispensation,  and  Apollo  Lodge  No.  36  sprang  into  existence,  on 
August  18,  1884.  The  lodge  flourished  from  the  start,  and  as  a 
result  of  its  work  and  influence,  the  growth  of  both  Nos.  10  and  3() 
was  large,  nearly  doubling  in  membership  in  one  year.  Its  represen- 
tatives have  taken  high  rank  in  the  councils  of  the  Grand  I^odge,  and 
are  placed  upon  the  most  important  committees.  It  has  been  honored 
in  the  choice  of  Richard  O'Neill  as  Grand  Chancellor,  now  the  sitting 
Past  Grand.  It  has  a  membership  at  present  of  eighty-three,  eleven 
Past  Chancellors,  and  one  P.  G.  C.  Its  finances  are  in  good  condi- 
tion. The  present  officers  are:  P.  C,  Walter  Keens;  C.  C,  Ed  P. 
Keefer;  V.  C,  F.  B.  Harris;  K.  of  R.  and  S.,  T.  D.  Scudder  ;  M.  of 
P.,  J.  North ;  M.  of  Ex.,  H.  W.  Kelley ;  M.  of  A.,  J.  J.  McClellan ; 
I.  G.,  AVinnie  Scott;  O.  G.  Wm.  P.  Gronen  ;  Trustees,  J.  E.  Doug- 
las, T.  W.  Tait,  Phelps  Paine. 

A.  D.  Marshall  Lodge  No.  41  was  organized  June  18, 1885,  by  G.  C. 
J.  C.  McNaughton,  with  twenty-three  members.  The  lodge  was  named 
after  the  lamented  A.  D.  Marshall,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  enthu- 
siastic Pythian  workers  of  the  city,  and  by  good  work  and  careful 
selection  has  to-day  a  membership  of  105.  The  present  officers  are: 
P.  C,  W.  H.  Berger;  C.  C,  L.  T.  Gaylord;  Y.  C,  Ed.  R.  Sizer;  P., 
J.  C.  Davis;  M.  of  Ex.,  Jno.  F.  Hayden;  M.  of  F.,  H.  E.  Chapel; 
M.  A.,  A.  Katzenstein ;  K.  of  R.  and  S.,  F.  Hornefius;  I.  G.,  Wm. 
AVebb;  O.  G.,  Chas.  Posky.  This  lodge  has  already  accumulated 
considerable  property. 

Ca])ital  City  Lodge  No.  68  was  instituted  February  9,  1887,  during 
tiie  term  of  Grand  Chancellor  John  Morrison,  as  a  testimonial  to  him 
of  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  order  in  the  Capital  City  of 
the  State,  with  the  large  number  of  135  petitioners,  the  largest  lir  t 
ever  presented  to  a  Grand  Chancellor  for  approval,  and  embracing 
State,  county,  and  city  officials,  and  leading  citizens.  This  lodge  has 
continued  its  work  with  such  success  that  to-day  it  strives  with  the 
mother  Lodge,  No.  16,  for  supremacy  in  numbers,  in  quality  of  meni- 
bershij),  and  in  wealth ;  and  ranks  second  only  in  members  in  the 
State,  having  at  this  time  183  Knights,  five  Past  Chancellors,  and  a 
District  Dej)uty  (Jrand  Chancellor,  S.  J.  Dennis.  The  present  officers 
are:  P.  C,  J^rof.  F.  F.  Roose;  C.  C,  C.  W.  Hoxie;  Y.  C,  G.  S. 
Foxworthy ;  P.,  Charles  Burton  ;  M.  of  Ex.,  R.  Wackerhagen  ;  M  of 


SECRET    AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  283 

r.,  Fred  A.  Miller;  K  of  R  and  S.,  Q.  L.  Martin;  M  of  A.,  A.  G. 
Kellum ;  I.  G.,  AV.  G.  Stanus  ;  O.  G.,  L.  D.  Van  Kleek.  Trustees  : 
W.  L.  Cundiff,  E.  B.  Graham,  F.  A.  Miller.  Financially  it  ranks 
well  with  any  lodge  in  the  city. 

The  Uniform  Rank,  Knights  of  Pythias,  has  its  headquarters  for 
the  State  in  Lincoln,  the  first  division  being  organized  here  in  1879, 
from  members  of  Lincoln  Lodge  No.  1().  From  this  start  this  branch 
of  the  order  has  grown  into  a  brigade  of  four  regiments  and  thirty- 
six  divisions,  with  the  following  officers,  who  are  Lincoln  residents: 
Brigadier  General  Commanding  Nebraska  Brigade  Uniform  Rank, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  W.  L  Dayton ;  Col.  and  Chief  of  Staff,  W.  C. 
Lane;  Col.  and  A.  A.  G.,  H.  S.  Hotchkiss;  Col.  and  Asst.  Com- 
missary Gen'l.,  John  B.  Wright,  Lincoln. 

First  Regiment  Nebraska  Brigade,  Uniform  Rank  Knights  of  Pvth- 
ias.  Col.  H.  F.  Downs,  Commanding;  Lieut.  Col.,  J.  E.  Douglas; 
Lieut,  and  Adjt.,  John  Jenkins;  Lieut,  and  Quartermaster,  W.  N. 
Rehlaender ;  Captain  and  Chaplain,  Rev.  E.  C.  Ralston ;  Quarter- 
master Sergeant,  Walter  Keens. 

Lincoln  Division  No.  1.  Uniform  Rank  Knights  of  Pythias,  was 
instituted  in  1879,  with  thirty-two  members.  The  division  has  been 
in  many  contests  for  honors,  and  on  many  occasions  has  won  trophies 
which  now  adorn  its  armory,  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  Supreme 
Lodge  of  the  World,  at  Toronto,  Ontario,  in  1886,  won  the  honorable 
distinction  of  third  prize  in  competition  with  divisions  from  all  over 
the  country.  The  present  membership  is  seventy-seven.  The  pres- 
ent officers  are:  Sir  Kt.  Capt.,  A.  A.  Lasch ;  Sir  Kt.  Lieut.,  J.  W. 
Percival;  Sir  Kt.  Herald,  F.  A  .Miller;  Sir  Kt.  Guard,  Nelson  West- 
over;  Sir  Kt.  Sent.,  F.  A.  Harris.  It  has  upon  detached  service 
Brig.  Genl.  W.  L.  Dayton,  Chief  of  Staff,  Col.  W.  C.  Lane;  Col.  and 
A.  A.  G.,  H.  S.  Hotchkiss;  Col.  John  B.  Wright,  Commissary 
Genl.  Wm.  N.  Rehlaender,  Lieut,  and  Quartermaster  of  1st  Regt. 
Rev.  E.  C.  Ralston,  Capt.  and  Chaplain  of  the  1st  Regt. 

A.  D.  Marshall  Division  No.  10,  was  organized  September  28, 188(), 
with  twenty-nine  members.  This  Division,  by  hard  work,  is  stead- 
ily coming  to  the  front,  and  has  a  record  of  three  prizes,  and  the 
Capt.,W.  H.  Berger,  winning  at  Columbus  during  the  Brigade  encamp- 
ment of  ]  889,  an  elegant  sword  as  the  best  commander.  The  Division 
is  the  proud  owner  of  a  handsome  flag,  w^th  emblems  of  the  Uniform 


284  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Rank  worked  in  silk,  and  valned  at  $200,  presented  to  it  by  its  lady 
friends  and  admirers.  It  has  a  membership  of  thirty-nine,  composed 
entirely  of  Knights  of  Marshall  Lodge  No.  41.  The  present  officers 
are:  Sir  Kt.  Capt.,  Wm.  H.  Berger ;  Sir  Kt.  Lient.,  H.  E.  Chapel; 
Sir Kt.  Herald,  G.  E.  Maxwell;  Sir  Kt.  Gnard,  M.  D.  Clary;  Sir  Kt. 
Sent.,  H.  Yanow;  Sir  Kt.  Treas.,  J.  F.  Hayden;  Sir  Kt.  Recorder, 
G.  E.  A"an  Every.  Of  its  members  there  arc  on  detached  service, 
Ed.  R.  Sizer,  Col.  and  A.  D.  C.  to  Maj.  Genl.  James  R.  Carnahan, 
Comdg.  the  Uniform  Rank  Knights  Pythias  of  the  world,  and  also 
of  the  same  rank  on  the  staff  of  Gov.  John  M.  Thayer,  of  the  State 
of  Nebraska ;  H.  F.  Downs,  Col.  Commanding  1st  Regt.  U.  R.  K. 
P.,  Nebraska  Brigade ;  and  John  Jenkins,  I^icut.  Adjt.  of  the  1st 
Regt. 

Apollo  Division  No.  11  was  instituted  October  ]  1,  1886,  with  thirty 
members.  The  Division  has  had  a  short  but  brilliant  career,  seven- 
teen of  its  members  participating  in  the  contest  at  Toronto  in  July, 
1886.  The  Division  won  first  prize  at  Hastings,  October  13, 1886,  in 
a  State  contest,  two  days  after  institution,  and  first  prize  again  the  fol- 
lowing year  at  Omaha,  in  a  contest  open  to  the  world.  Later  on  it 
was  presented  Avith  a  gold  medal  at  Omaha  for  excellence  in  drill,  and 
bears  the  proud  honor  of  being  the  best  drilled  Division  in  the  State. 
The  present  membership  is  forty-one.  A  beautiful  flag  presented  to  it 
by  A.  E.  Hargreaves,  is  highly  valued  by  its  members.  There  are  on 
detached  service,  J.  E.  Douglas,  Lieut.  Col.  1st  Regt.  U.  R.  Neb. 
Brigade,  and  Walter  Keens,  Quartermaster  Sergeant.  Its  membership 
is  entirely  from  Apollo  Lodge  No.  36,  and  Diana  Lodge  No.  106, 
Beatrice.  The  present  officers  are :  Sir  Kt.  (Japt.,  C.  M.  Keefer ;  Sir  Kt. 
Lieut.,  W.  E.  Churchill;  Sir  Kt.  Herald,  Frank  B.  Harris;  Sir  Kt. 
Guard,  T.  W.  Tait;  Sir  Kt.  Sent.,  Walter  Keens;  Sir  Kt.  Treas.,  R. 
O'Neill;  Sir  Kt.  Recorder,  J.  E.  Douglas. 

In  the  year  1888,  through  the  exertions  of  Brother  J.  E.  Douglas, 
P.  C.  of  Apollo  Lodge  No.  36,  a  Board  of  Relief  was  organized  for 
the  aid  and  assistance  of  sojourning  Knights  who  might  be  in  need. 
This  board  is  composed  of  representatives  from  eaclx,  lodge,  to  whom 
all  cases  are  referred,  each  lodge  contributing,  in  proportion  to  its  mem- 
l)ership,  to  the  fund  of  the  board.  The  meetings  are  held  on  the  sec- 
ond Friday  of  each  month,  or  the  board  may  be  convened  at  any  time, 
if  necessary,  by  the  President  or  upon  call  of  two  members.     It  has 


SECRET    AND   OTHER   SOCIETIES.  285 

already  proved  a  very  desirable  adjunct  to  the  order  in  this  city.  The 
following  are  the  officers: 

President — J.  E.  Douglas.     Address,  25  City  Block,  Eleventh  «t. 

Vice  President— W.  C.  Lane,  1034  O  street. 

Secretary — H.  E.  Chapel,  1115  P  street. 

Treasurer — Prof.  F.  F.  Roose,  Academy  of  Music. 

Endowment  Rank  Knights  of  Pythias,  Section  657,  was  established 
February,  1888,  with  twenty-five  members,  carrying  over  $50,000 
of  insurance,  and  is  in  successful  operation. 

The  Ancient  Accepted  Scottish  Rite  of  the  United  States,  its  Terri- 
tories and  Dependencies,  Lincoln  Consistory  No.  54,  Chapter  of  Rose 
Croix,  Council  of  Princess  of  Jerusalem,  and  a  Lodge  of  Perfection, 
were  organized  April  23,  1889,  with  fifty  members,  by  Joseph  Mc- 
Grath,  of  New  Jersey,  Grand  Inspector  General  of  the  Rite  as  organ- 
ized A.D.  1807. 

The  officers  of  the  consistory  are:  A.  G.  Hastings,  Commander; 
James  Tyler,  1st  Lieutenant  Commander;  A.  E.  Kennard,  2d  Lieu- 
tenant Commander;  Austin  Humphrey,  M.  of  S.  and  G.  O. ;  J.  H. 
Peebles,  G.  C. ;  M.  R.  Davey,  G.  T.;  L.  D.  Woodruff,  G.  S. 

The  Chapter  of  Rose  Croix  has  the  following  officers :  S.  G.  Owens, 
P.  M. ;  L.  D.  Woodruff.  S.  W. ;  E.  O.  Miller,  J.  W. ;  J.  G.  Chapin, 
Orator;  M.  R.  Davey,  Treasurer;  J,  C.  Seacrest,  Secretary. 

The  Council  of  Princess  of  Jerusalem  is  officered  as  follows:  W. 
R.  Carter,  G.  M. ;  A.  E.  Kennard,  D.  M. ;  G.  H.  Peebles,  S.  W. ;  M. 
L.  Hunter,  J.  W. ;  M.  H.  Day,  Treasurer;  A.  L.  Shrader,  Secretary. 

The  Lodge  of  Perfection  has  the  following  officers :  W.  S.  Bloom, 
M. ;  James  Tyler,  D.  G.  M. ;  J.  C.  Seacrest,  S.  W. ;  F.  P.  Lawrence, 
J.  W. ;  G.  H.  Peebles,  Orator;  J.  H.  Agers,  Secretary;  M.  R.  Davey, 
Treasurer; 

Lincoln  Lodge  No.  19,  York  Rite,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons, was  organized  1868,  and  has  about  160  members. 

Lancaster  Lodge  No.  54  was  organized  in  1874. 

Lincoln  Chapter  No.  6,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  was  organized  April 
28,  1868,  and  has  a  membership  of  170. 

Mount  Moriah  Commandry  No.  40,  Knights  Templar,  was  organ- 
ized in  1871,  and  has  now  a  membership  of  125. 

The  Ancient  Arabic  Order  of  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  Sesostris 
Temple,  was  organized  in  1880,  and  now  has  a  membership  of  125. 


286  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

It  is  now  about  twenty-three  years  since  Dr.  Stephenson  fornuihited 
the  plans  for  the  organization  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Kepublie,  an 
organization  which  should  bind  together  by  ties  fraternal  those  who 
had  survived  the  dangers  of  the  late  war,  and  which  should  be  charged 
with  the  care  of  those  who  might  need  the  assistance  of  a  brother's  hand 
in  time  of  distress.  The  founder  of  the  order  has  long  since  gone  to 
rest,  and  his  body  sleeps  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  at  Springfield,  111.; 
but  his  work  still  goes  marching  on.  Not  until  September  8,  1879, 
however,  Avas  a  post  of  the  G,  A.  R.  established  in  Lincoln.  At  that 
time  Farragut  Post,  of  thirty-four  charter  members,  was  formed,  the 
following  being  the  list : 

S.  J.  Alexander,  L.  W.  Billingsley,  R.  C.  Hazlett,  Lyman  Wood, 
A.  D.  Burr,  A\\  S.  Latta,  Henry  Masterman,  W.  A.  Daggett,  D.  B. 
Howard,  G.  K.  Amory,  C.  H.  Gere,  A.  P.  Tarbox,  J.  E.  Philpott, 
R.  O.  Philips,  Silas  Sprague,  W.  R.  Kelley,  W.  H.  Beach,  Sam  Mc- 
Clay,  P.  A.  Smith,  W.  J.  Cooper,  X.  Carpenter,  Jas.  Bolshaw,  S.  P. 
Richey,  T.  B.  Dawson,  Levi  Gable,  D.  C.  Reynolds,  E.  G.  Clements, 
C.  C.  Harris,  A.  Mastermau,  J.  Curry,  M.  L.  Pliltner,  J.  W.  Owens, 
Thos.  Sewall,  R.  X.  Wright. 

The  first  officers  were  :  Commander,  S.  J.  Alexander ;  S.  V.,  L,  W. 
Billingsley;  J.  Y.,  C.  H.  Gould  ;  Chap.,  H,  Masterman  ;  Adjt.,Geo. 
K.  Amory;  Q.  M.,  A.  D.  Burr;  O.  IX,  R.  C.  Hazlett;  O.  G.,  Al. 
Masterman,  The  successive  Commanders  have  been  :  C.  H.  Gould, 
J.  C.  Bonnell,  R.  C.  Hazlett,  Guy  A.  Brown,  S.  V.  Hoagland,  Jos. 
Teeter,  Harry  S.  Hotchkiss,  and  O.  C.  Bell. 

The  post  grew  rapidly  in  numbers,  at  one  time  reaching  over  500 
in  good  standiug,  and  to-day  has  a  membership  of  250,  with  the  fol- 
lowing officers:  Commandej-,  H.  C.  McArthur;  S.  V.,  J.  H.  Fox- 
worthy  ;  Jr.  Y.,  Silas  Sprague;  Adjt.,  P.  A.  Gatchell ;  Q.  M.,  Martin 
Howe;  Surgeon,  J.  R.  Haggard;  Chap.,  Henry  Masterman;  O.  D., 
Jos.  Teeter ,-^  ().  G.,  J.  W.  Bowen,  Sergt.  Maj.,  T.  B.  Beach;  Q.  M. 
Sergt.,  Wni.  M.  Gillespie. 

This  is  the  largest  post  in  the  State,  full  of  energy,  whose  charity 
and  kindness  is  being  felt  by  many  worthy  comrades  and  by  the  wid- 
ows and  orphans  of  fallen  comrades.  The  members  of  Farragut  Post 
are  known  by  Xebraska  comrades  for  their  whole-souled  comradesliip 
and  efficiency  in  tlie  work  of  the  order.  The  meetings  of  this  post 
are  usuallv  attended  bv  between  100  and  150  members. 


SECRET    AND    OTHER    SOCIF.TIES.  287 

Appomattox  Post  No.  214  was  organized  January  28,  1886,  at 
which  time  the  following  officers  were  duly  elected  and  installed; 
Lieut.  Edgar  S.  Dudley,  P.  C;  Hon.  H.  A.  Babcock,S.  V.  C;  Hon.  . 
W.  W.  W.  Jones,  J.  Y.  C;  Col.  Brad  P.  Cook,  Adjt.;  D.  R.  Lilli- 
bridge,  Q.  M.;  Prof.  L.  E.  Hicks,  Chap.;  J.  O.  Carter  M.  D.,  Surg.; 
Hon.  S.  J.  Alexander,  O.  D.;  Prof.  Geo.  B.  Lane,  O.  (t.;  Hon.  C.  H. 
Gere,Serg.  Maj.;  and  Maj.  N.  G.  Franklin,  Q.  M.  8erg.  Tiie  mem- 
bership in  the  post  is  not  large,  some  forty-five  members  comprising 
its  entire  roster,  but  it  is,  perhaps,  fully  equal,  intellectually,  to  any 
organization  in  the  State.  The  regular  meetings  of  the  post  arc  hold 
the  first  Saturday  evening  in  each  month. 

Art.  4,  Sec.  3,  of  its  by-laws,  reads  as  follows:  ^'Ou  the  death  of  a 
comrade,  not  over  three  months  in  arrears,  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
dollars  (to  be  drawu  from  the  relief  fund)  shall  be  paid  to  his  widow 
or  legal  representative,  for  funeral  expenses.  Should  there  be  no  le- 
gal representative,  the  post  shall  take  charge  of  the  funeral,  the  ex- 
penses of  which  shall  not  exceed  one  hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  from 
the  relief  fund."  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Appomattox  Post  is  a 
benevolent  insurance  organization  to  a  certain  extent,  and  no  worthy 
comrade  who  applies  to  any  of  its  members  for  assistance  goes  away 
em)>ty-handed. 

Its  present  officers  are:  D.  R.  Lillibridge,  Post  Commander;  C.  W. 
Lyman,  S.  V.  C;  John  Gillespie,  S.  Y.  C;  Brad.  P.  Cook,  Adjt.;  O. 
E.  Goodell,  Q.  M.;  X.  G.  Franklin,  O.  D.;  L.  J.  Alexander,  O.  G.; 
J.  H.  McClay,  Q.  M.  Serg.  The  post  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  State, 
and  is  in  a  prosperous  and  flourishing  condition. 

The  fraternal  and  benevolent  order,  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen,  was  started  in  Lincoln  by  the  organization  of  Lincoln 
Lodge  No.  9,  on  the  17th  of  December,  1885.  From  this  beginning 
there  has  been  a  steady  growth,  until  to-day  it  has  three  English  and 
one  German  lodge,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  315,  whose  pro- 
tection amounts  to  the  graiid  sum  of  $630,000.  There  have  been  but 
three  deaths  in  this  membership  since  its  organization  four  years  ago, 
showing  the  care  in  selection  of  membership. 

The  present  officers  of  No.  9  are:  P.  M.  W.,  J.  W.  McMillan;  M. 
W.,  Dr.  G.  H.  Simmons;  Foreman,  Art.  Masterman  ;  Overseer,  W. 
J.  Con  ley;  Recorder,  Wm.  Helmer;  Financier,  F.  W.  Bartrutf;  Re- 


288  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

cei ver,  A.  D.  Guile ;  Guide,  J.  P.  Masterman ;  Watchman, George  Fow- 
ler; Representatives  to  Grand  Lodge,  J.  W.  McMillan,  F.  W.  Bartrntt". 

Upchurch  Lodge  No.  15,  A.  O.  U.  W.,  was  named  after  the  founder 
of  the  Order,  and  instituted  April  18,  1887.  It  now  has  forty-five 
members,  and  is  increasing  in  membership.  P.  Zook  is  the  present 
Master  Workman.     Representative  to  Grand  Lodge,  F.  F.  Roose. 

Capital  City  Lodge  Xo.  80,  A.  O.  L^.  W.,  was  organized  May  15, 
188G,  by  E.  W.  McDonald,  Grand  Lecturer,  with  a  charter  list  of 
about  thirty.  The  membership  is  energetic  and  pushing.  It  has  been 
largely  instrumental  in  building  up  the  order  in  this  city,  and  through 
its  work  the  Improvement  Association  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.  was  formed, 
resulting;  in  oivino-  the  order  a  hall  of  its  own,  nicelv  furnished,  and 
at  a  moderate  cost.  It  has  to-day  127  members,  who  have  the  repu- 
tation throughout  the  State  of  doing  the  best  degree  work.  It  has  a 
"  team  "  organized  for  that  purpose,  the  only  one  in  the  State.  The 
present  officers  are:  P.  M.  W.,  W.  S.  Houseworth ;  M.  W.,  T.  J. 
Berky ;  Foreman,  Wm.  Clark ;  Overseer,  Frank  Pynchon ;  Recorder, 
James  Farrell;  Financier,  W.  McClellan ;  Receiver,  John  Rivett; 
Guide,  Wm.  Brannon ;  I.  G.,  Charles  Deahne;  Representatives  to 
Grand  Lodge,  W.  S.  Houseworth,  Henry  Mayer,  E.  W.  McDonald, 
E.  L.  Holyoke. 

Concordia  Lodge  No.  151,  A.  O.  L^.  W.,  was  organized  May  17, 1888, 
with  twenty-four  charter  members.  It  works  entirely  in  the  (ierman 
language,  and  is  composed  of  our  best  German  citizens.  It  has  a  mem- 
bership at  present  of  forty-seven,  and  has  work  ahead.  The  present 
officers  are:  P.  M.  W.,  Carl  Schmitt;  M.  W.,  Louis  Vieth  ;  Foreman? 
P.  Andressen ;  Overseer,  A.  Kroner ;  Recorder,  Paul  Prigel ;  Finan- 
cier, R  Heminghaus;  Receiver,  R.  Hahnermann  ;  Guide,  Joseph  Fraasj 
I.  W.,  Emil  Motz;  Representative  to  Grand  Lodge,  Carl  Schmitt. 

Logan  Legion  No.  8,  Select  Knights  A.  O.  L^.  W.,  was  organized 
in  May,  1887.  The  object  of  this  branch  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.  is  ad- 
ditional protection  to  the  amount  of  83,000  if  desired,  and  for  a  rej)- 
resentative  display  of  the  order. 

Improvement  Association,  A.  O.  U.  W.,was  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  procuring  a  hall  and  furnishing  the  same  for  the  use  of  A.  O.  L^. 
W.  lodges.  It  is  composed  of  members  of  the  order  who  are  stock- 
holders to  the  amount  of  $1,500,  shares  of  which  are  §5.  The  stock 
can  l>e  increased  at  an v  time  if  desired.    The  association  has  furnished 


SECRET    AND    OTHER    SOCIETIES.  289 

:au  elegant  hall  over  1114  O  street,  which  is  used  by  the  A.  O.  U.  W. 
and  kindred  societies.  The  stock  is  paying  eight  per  cent,  and  is 
bought  by  the  lodges  when  offered  for  sale.  The  officers  are:  J.  T. 
Rivett,  President;  .J.  AV.  McMillan,  Vice  President;  W.  8.  House- 
worth,  Secretary. 

The  "Modern  "Woodmen ^f  America"  is  a  fraternal,  beneficiary,  se- 
cret organization.  Its  founder  is  Hon.  J.  C.  Root,  of  Iowa,  who  organ- 
ized the  first  camp  in  January,  1883,  since  which  time  the  order  has 
grown  with  w(_iiiilert'ul  rapiility.  Not  until  April  27,  1886,  was  a  lodge 
of  Woodmen  organized  in  Lincoln.  At  that  time  Capital  City  Camp 
]S^o.  190  was  instituted  with  a  large  charter  membership,  which  has 
since  grown  to  225  members.  The  present  officers  of  this  camp  are : 
V.  C,  ^y.  J.  Bryan  ;  W.  A.,  T.  P.  Converse;  Clerk,  C.  C.  Calkins; 
Banker,  S.  K.  Hale;  Escort,  C.  Van  Raden;  Assistant  Escort,  E.  H. 
AVhiteside;  Sentry,  C.  J.  Olson;  Examiner,  Dr.  J.  R.  Haggard;  ^lan- 
agers,  W.  A.  Manchester,  F.  F.  Roose,  D.  T.  Cook;  Delegate,  A\'.  J. 
Bryan. 

Antelope  Camp  Xo.  U16  was  instituted  April  4,  1889,  with  one 
hundred  names  on  its  petition.  It  erected,  in  East  Lincoln,  a  hall  for 
its  own  use,  which  was  dedicated  the  following  July.  M.  W.  of  A. 
was  the  first  order  to  organize  a  local  society  in  East  Lincoln.  Its 
officers  are  :  V.  C,  I.  H.  Strawbridge;  W.  A.,  M.  Ewing;  Clerk,  E. 
C  Smith  ;  Banker.  A.  W.  Field ;  Escort,  S.  D.  Woodley ;  Watchman, 

F,  Risser;  Sentry,  R.  C.  Jones;  Managers,  Dr.  Pogue,  H.  Koyer,  F. 
W.  Homan. 

F.  F.  Roose  Camp  Xo.  969,  M.  W.  of  A.,  organized  May  2, 1889, 
started  out  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  Among  those 
who  enrolled  as  charter  members  are  many  of  Lincoln's  most  promi- 
nent citizens.  The  petition  for  a  charter  was  signed  by  190  persons, 
\Miile  the  camp  is  young,  its  officers  and  members  have  entered  into 
the  work  with  the  same  spirit  characteristic  of  the  whole  order — push, 
enterprise,  enthusiasm,  business,  and  fraternity.  The  following  are  its 
present  officers:  V.  C,  A.  R.  Talbot;  W.  A.,  O.  C.  Bell ;  Clerk,  Chas. 

G.  Burton;  Banker,  F.  S.  Kelly:  Escort,  A.  B.  Burastead ;  Watch- 
man, X.  King;  Sentry,  A.  L.  Church;  Managers,  Ed.  Young,  E.  R. 
Sizer,  O.  F.  Lambertson  ;  Delegate,  W.  M.  AVoodward.  The  camp 
^was  named  the  ''F.  F.  Roose  Camp"  in  honor  of  F.  F.  Roose,  Head 


SECRET    AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  291 

Adviser,  the  second  highest  officer  in  the  Supreme  Camp,  and  an  up- 
right and  respected  citizen  of  Lincohi. 

The  entire  Woodmen  membership  in  Lincohi  is  over  oOO. 

Prof.  Franklin  F.  Roose,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Lincohi 
Business  College,  is  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  ''secret  order"  men, 
not  only  in  Nebraska,  but  in  the  entire  West.  He  is  connected  with  a 
number  of  orders,  but  his  position  in  the  order  of  Modern  Woodmen 
entitles  him  to  more  than  a  passing  notice  in  this  work.  In  the  summer 
of  1886  Mr.  Roose  was  elected  by  Capital  City  Camp  No.  190,  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  as  delegate  to  the  Head  Camp,  at  Sterling, 
111.,  which  met  the  following  October.  At  that  camp  he  was  elected 
Head  Clerk,  and  before  the  session  closed  was  elevated  to  the  place  of 
Head  Adviser,  the  second  highest  rank  in  the  Supreme  Camp.  At 
the  Des  Moines  session  of  the  Head  Camp,  held  in  November,  1888, 
he  was  elected  for  another  two  years'  term,  his  reelection  being  by  accla- 
mation. Prof.  Roose  was  born  at  Moline,  111.,  July  3,  1855.  His 
early  education  was  received  in  the  common  schools  of  Rock  Island. 
During  the  war  he  used  to  visit  the  rebel  prison  on  Rock  Island  and 
trade  with  the  soldiers,  also  w^ith  the  Indians  confined  at  Davenport 
for  their  depredations  and  murders  in  Minnesota. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Roose  was  a  carpenter,  and  owned  a  lath  and 
shingle  mill  in  which  was  employed  a  number  of  men,  and  it  was  in 
this  saw-mill  that  the  young  man  began  work,  at  the  age  of  nine 
years.  He  continued  at  tliis  work  for  seven  years,  when  he  moved 
with  his  father  to  a  farm  a  few  miles  from  Edgington,  111.  He  there 
worked  for  five  years,  or  until  the  spring  of  187().  At  that  time  Mr. 
Roose,  being  twenty-two  years  of  age,  bought  a  team,  wagon,  plows, 
harrows,  etc.,  rented  ground  at  |5  per  acre,  and  began  farming  on  his 
own  account,  in  order  to  obtain  money  to  complete  his  education. 
One  year's  work  gave  him,  after  selling  off  all  his  farming  imple- 
ments, $400,  and  with  this  amount  he  started,  in  the  spring  of  1877, 
for  Bloomington,  where  he  entered  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University. 
Here  he  remained  two  years.  While  attending  that  school  an  incident 
occurred  which  shows  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow 
students.  The  last  and  only  money  he  owned  was  ^i^"),  and  one 
night  this,  together  with  two  concert  tickets  which  he  had  procured  for 
himself  and  the  ladv  who  was  afterward  to  be  his  wife,  was  stolen. 


•292 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Hearing-  ol"this  loss,  the  senior  class  of  the  college  made  up  the  entire 
amount  and  presented  it  to  Mr.  Roose,  also  making  good  the  loss  of 
his  tickets. 

In  the  fall  of  187f>  ^Ir.  Roose  engaged  as  an  instructor  in  Chad- 
dock  College,  (^uincv.  111.,  at  the  same  time  carrying  on  his  private 
studies.  While  connected  with  this  institution  he  was  secretary  of 
the  faculty,  member  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  secretary  of  it  and 


PKOF.  F.  F.  BOOSE. 


of  the  executive  board.  In  the  summer  of  1880  Prof.  Roose  and 
ISIiss  Elizabeth  ^Morrison,  who  afterward  became  his  wife,  both  grad- 
uated in  the  (jlem  City  Jkisiness  College,  and  soon  after,  on  Septem- 
ber 7,  their  marriage  took  place.  A  week  later  Prof.  Roose  took 
charge  of  the  commercial  department  of  the  McKendree  University, 
Lebanon,  111.,  which  he  conducted  for  two  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  Prof,  and  Mrs.  Roose  each  received  the  degree  of  B.  S.,  having 
completed  all  tlic  studies  of  this  course. 


SECRET   AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  293 

On  June  20,  1882,  the  professor  and  his  wife  sailed  for  South 
America,  where  he  had  engaged  to  teach  in  the  Cullegio  Americano, 
at  Pernambuco,  Brazil.  He  occupied  that  position  six  months,  and 
then  for  six  months  was  secretary  to  the  Hon.  Henry  L.  Atherton, 
United  States  Consul  at  that  place.  Afterward  he  was  auditor  for 
the  Recife  and  Caxanga  Railway  Company,  which  position  he  retained 
until  January,  1 884,  when  he  resigned  and  returned  to  North  America, 
the  intense  heat  of  that  tropical  country  proving  disastrous  to  his 
health. 

In  the  fall  of  1884  Prof.  Roose,  his  health  having  been  restored  by 
a  summer's  residence  on  a  farm,  came  to  Lincoln  and  founded  the 
Lincoln  Business  College  and  Institute  of  Penmanship,  Short  Hand, 
Type  Writing,  and  Telegraphy.  In  1885  McKendree  University 
gave  Prof.  Roose  and  his  wife  both  the  degree  of  M.  S,,  and  in  1886 
the  Iowa  Wesleyan  University  conferred  upon  them  the  degree  of 
A.  M.  pro  merito.  His  work  in  Lincoln  has  been  remarkably  suc- 
cessful, and  while  a  resident  of  the  city  he  has  built  up  a  social  and 
business  standing  of  the  very  best. 

Prof.  Roose  is  a  busy  man ;  few  minutes  can  go  to  waste  with  him, 
as  will  be  seen  by  the  immense  amount  of  work  which  he  does  daily  ; 
and  yet  he  always  has  time  to  say  a  few  pleasant  words  to  the  friends 
he  meets  upon  the  streets  or  who  call  at  the  pleasant  home  of  Prof, 
and  Mrs.  Roose  on  D  street.  In  addition  to  the  work  of  his  busi- 
ness college,  in  which  enterprise  he  has  associated  himself  with  Prof. 
D.  R.  Lillibridge,  Prof.  Roose  has  charge  of  the  commercial  depart- 
ment of  the  Nebraska  Wesleyan  University ;  is  the  editor  and  pub- 
lisher of  the  Western  Workman,  the  official  organ  of  the  A.  O.  U.  AV., 
and  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Lincoln  Monthly,  an  educational  journal. 
In  addition  to  these  duties  Prof.  Roose  attends  to  the  duties  which 
necessarily  fall  upon  him  as  a  prominent  member  of  several  secret 
orders,  and  the  secretary  of  several  associations.  He  is  Head  Adviser, 
Modern  Woodmen;  Past  Chancellor  Commander  of  Capital  City 
Lodge  No.  Q^,  K.  of  P.;  representative  to  the  K.  of  P.  Grand  Lodge 
of  Nebraska  for  1889  and  1890;  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order; 
member  of  the  Select  Knights  of  America;  one  of  the  managers  of 
Capital  City  Camp  No.  190,  M.  W.  A.;  member  of  the  Phi  Delta 
Theta,  the  A.  O.  U.  W.,  and  the  Nebraska  Press  Association  ;  Vice 
President  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.  Building  Association,  and  was  Secretary 


294  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

aiul  Treasurer  of  the  Xorthern  Eelief  Association,  A.  ().  l^.  W.,  for 
one  and  one-half  years.  He  is  also  Vice  President  of  the  M.  AV.  A. 
board  of  directors  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  of  the  executive  coun- 
cil ;  Past  Master  Workman  and  Deputy  Grand  Master  Workman  of 
Upchurch  Lodge  No.  15,  A.  O.  U.  W.,  and  was  a  member  for  1887 
and  1881)  of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.  Grand  Lodge.  The  foregoing  list  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  no  man  in  tlie  West  is  more  thoroughly  identi- 
fied with  the  work  of  secret  orders  than  is  Prof.  Roose,  and  tlie  nu- 
merous })ositions  of  honor  and  responsibility  to  which  his  fraternal 
brothers  have  elevated  him  shows  in  what  esteem  and  confidence  he 
is  held  by  them. 

A  new  secret  society  in  which  Lincoln  is  especially  interested  is 
the  "Order  of  Delphians,"  Avhose  Supreme  Lodge  is  located  in  this 
city,  and  the  first  work  of  which  was  done  here.  This  order  was 
instituted  in  February,  1889,  in  Lincoln,  and  is  an  association  de- 
signed to  promote  the  interests  of  mankind  by  improving  the  welfare 
of  those  engaged  in  teaching.  To  this  end  the  teachers  are  banded 
together  to  advance  their  social  relations,  provide  libraries  for  their 
benefit,  to  promote  harmony  in  the  work  of  the  teaclier  by  adapting 
the  instructor  to  the  places  he  can  best  fill.  In  brief,  it  is  intended 
to  keep,  at  the  Supreme  Lodge,  a  bureau  of  information  for  the  benefit 
of  all  teachers  as  well  as  school  boards.  Throup'h  the  subordinate 
lodges  places  needing  teachers,  and  teachers  seeking  situations,  together 
with  information  concerning  the  merits  of  the  teachers  and  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  places  to  be  filled,  are  to  be  supplied  to  the 
Supreme  Lodge.  To  this  bureau  all  teachers  can  apply  for  employ- 
ment and  boards  and  directors  can  come  for  teachers.  In  this  way  it 
is  believed  teachers  can  be  located  in  situations  they  can  best  fill,  thus 
promoting  the  general  welfare  of  all  concerned. 

Lincoln  l)egan  with  a  subordinate  lodge  of  twenty-eight  members. 
The  Supreme  Secretary,  Mr.  W.  S.  Bloom,  occupies  a  suite  of  rooms 
on  the  second  fioor  of  the  Latta  block,  at  133-9  South  Eleventh  street. 

The  Lincoln  Division  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  was  or- 
ganized on  January  21, 1885,  by  Brother  Richard  ( )'Keeffe,  of  Omaha, 
and  John  Rush. 

Patrick  Egan  was  elected  County  Delegate,  but  on  October  1,  1885, 


SECRET    AND    OTHER   SOCIETIES.  295 

lie  was  called  on  to  explain  mIiv  he  did  not  comply  with  tlie  consti- 
tution, and  approach  the  sacraments  with  the  Division  on  Septem- 
ber 10th,  as  had  been  decided  on  at  the  previous  meeting,  (September 
3d.)  Mr.  Egan  explained  the  reasons  why  he  could  not  consistently 
abide  by  the  laws  compelling  members  to  approach  the  sacraments  in 
a  body,  as  he  felt  that  there  was  too  much  ostentation  in  parade.  Mr. 
Egan  said  he  was  sorry  to  say  that  throngii  circumstances  he  was  con- 
strained to  tender  his  resignation. 

Mr.  Egan's  resignation  was  accepted  on  November  8, 1885,  and  Mv. 
James  Kelly  was  thereupon  elected  County  Delegate,  which  office  he 
still  holds. 

The  Division  has  made  good  progress  since  its  organization,  and 
now  numbers  about  ninety  members.  In  the  fall  of  1888  the  Division 
presented  a  magnificent  pulpit  to  Right  Eev.  Bishop  Bonacum,  for  the 
pro-cathedral.  The  officers  at  present  are :  Thomas  McShane,  Presi- 
dent; Frank  Sheppard,  Vice  President;  Michael  Corcoran,  Record- 
ing Secretary ;  Edward  ]M.  INIaher,  Financial  Secretary ;  Thomas 
McGivern,  Treasurer. 

Lincoln  Lodge  No.  35,  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars,  was 
organized  May  10,  1868.  The  lodge  grcM-  very  rapidly,  attaining  a 
membership  at  one  time  of  250.  Since  its  organization  it  has  enrolled 
about  1,500  members. 

Lincoln  Lodge  No.  35  can  boast  of  having  sent  out  into  the  field 
some  of  the  best  temperance  Avorkers  of  this  country,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  B.  Finch,  John  Sobieski,  Joe  Critchfield,  J.  G.  Wolfenbarger, 
and  Mr.  Sibley,  being  a  few  among  the  number. 

The  officers  of  Lincoln  Lodge  No.  35,  for  the  summer  term  of  1889 
are  as  follows:  C.  T.,  L.  A.  Willis;  Y.  T.,  Nellie  Hodge;  S.  J. 
T.,  Emma  Hedges;  Sec'y,  G.  H.  Crandall;  A.  Sec'y,  Mamie  Gulick; 
F.  Sec'y,  C.  E.  Hedges ;  Treas.,  Carrie  Brown ;  Chap.,  Mr.  Flucard ; 
M.,  Mr.  Cooper;  A.  M.,  Addie  Bundy;  Guard,  Mr.  Dili;  Sentinel, 
Sam  B.  Ijams. 

The  Ancient  Order  of  Foresters  meets  on  the  first  and  third  Fri- 
days of  each  month,  in  the  K.  of  P.  Hall,  at  1007  O  street.  The  list 
of  officers  at  the  opening  of  the  year  were:  W.  Robertson,  J.  P.  C.  R.; 
E.  A.  Stephens,  C.  R.;  G.  R.  Knowles,  S.  C.  R.;  F.  Gather,  F.  Sec; 


296  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

G.  Leavitt,  Rec.  Sec;   H.  A.  Stephens,  Treas.;  M.  Seivers,  S.  W.;  J.. 
Leister,  J.  W.;  R.  Scheape,  S.  B.;  D.  N.  Stephens,  J.  B. 

The  Knights  of  Tabor  meet  at  1021  ()  street.  The  officers  for  1889 
were:  J.Wright,  C.  M.;  J.  Williams,  V.  M.;  E.  Brown,  Secretary; 
J.  F.  Malone,  Treasurer ;  J.  H.  Washington,  C.  O.;  A.  Johnson,  C.  G. 

The  Knights  of  I^abor  first  organized  in  this  city  in  1881,  under 
Assembly  Number  2659  ;  but  the  order  lapsed  in  a  short  time,  and  was 
reorganized  in  1885  as  Assembly  3774.  The  organization  grew  rap- 
idly to  about  700  members,  but  failed  to  continue.  A  second  reor- 
ganization was  effected  in  1887,  out  of  Avhich  grew  two  locals,  one 
beins:  the  Lincoln  Assembly  No.  2659,  which  meets  over  1023  () 
street,  in  the  A.  O.  H.  hall,  and  the  other  being  Stephens  Assembly 
573,  named  after  the  National  Master  Workman  of  the  order.  This 
assembly  meets  in  Central  Labor  Union  Hall,  at  1125  O  street.  Both 
assemblies  are  prosperous,  and  together  now  number  about  800  mem- 
bers. Of  Assembly  No.  2659  George  W.  Black  is  Master  Workman 
and  M.  Corcoran  Secretary.  Of  573  J.  H.  Craddock  is  Master  Work- 
man and  S.  J.  Kent  Secretary.  It  is  expected  that  there  will  be  six 
locals  in  the  county  before  the  close  of  the  year. 

Lincoln  has  two  principal  social  clubs,  the  Union  and  the  Elks. 
The  Linion  Club  was  organized  May  29,  1879,  with  the  following 
officers :  Edgar  S.  Dudley,  President ;  Thomas  Sewell,  Vice  Presi- 
dent; J.  H.  Alford,  Secretary;  George  C.  Newman,  Treasurer;  J.  H. 
Fawell,  Master  of  Ceremonies.  On  the  19th  of  May,  1888,  the  cluU 
was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  with  a  cap- 
ital stock  of  $5,000,  divided  into  shares  of  $25  each.  This  allows  the 
club  a  membership  of  200,  the  present  membership  being  122.  The 
present  officers  are:  E.  B.  Appelget,  President;  J.  F.  Barnhart,  Vice 
President ;  J.  A.  Marshall,  Secretary ;  W.  \V^  W.  Jones,  Treasurer. 
Board  of  Directors— R.  A.  Perry,  C.  O.  AV'hedon,  R.  C.  Outcalt, 
Thomas  Sewell,  O.  W.  Webster,  and  J.  H.  Harley.  The  club  occu- 
pies elegant  rooms  at  the  northwest  corner  of  N  and  Twelfth  streets^ 
fitted  up  in  a  most  complete  manner. 

The  ''Elks"  Club  was  organized  March  10,  1888,  with  sixty-five 
charter  members,  wliicji  have  been  increased  to  105  at  the  present  time. 
The  officers  of  this  organization  are:  W.  J.  Houston,  E.  R.;  H.  R. 


20 


THE  BURR  BLOCK. 


298  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY   OF    LINCOLN. 

Wiley,  E.  L.  K.;  E.  B.  Slosson,  E.  L.  K.;  W.  H.  Axtater,  E.  L.  K.; 
A,  E.  Hargreaves,  Treasurer.  This  club  is  elegantly  quartered  in  the 
Shaberg  Block,  southeast  corner  of  P  and  Eleventh  streets. 

Prominent  among  the  associations  of  the  city  is  the  Haydon  Art 
Club,  designed  to  promote  a  taste  for  the  fine  arts. 

There  are  also  tennis,  lacrosse,  and  M'heel  clubs,  and  supjjosed  to  be 
a  press  club,  but  this  is  not  active. 

Among  social  clubs  may  be  mentioned  the  Harmonic,  Pleasant 
Hour,  Pleasant  Hour  Jr.,  Swedish  Social  and  Literary,  and  Yorke. 

Lincoln  is  the  center  of  the  organization  designed  to  carry  the  pro- 
hibitory amendment  at  the  election  of  1890,  known  as  the  "Nebraska 
Non-partisan  Prohibitory  Amendment  League."  Mr.  C.  A.  Atkin- 
son is  the  President  of  the  State  I^eague,  and  Mr.  Charles  Bobbins 
Secretary.  Messrs.  Atkinson,  John  M.  Stewart,  and  C.  F.  Creighton, 
are  members  of  the  State  Executive  Committee. 

Lincoln  is  also  the  residence  of  Mr.  A.  G.  Wolfenbarger,  represent- 
ing Nebraska  in  the  National  organization  of  the  Prohibition  party. 

Among  the  most  worthy  benevolent  societies  of  the  city  is  the  Wo- 
man's Christian  Association,  designed  to  aid  women  in  the  work  of 
self-support  and  protection.  Also  for  the  help  of  the  needy.  It  now 
maintains  a  Woman's  Home,  on  Eleventh  street,  between  K  and  H. 

The  Willard  and  Lincoln  Branches  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union  are  active  contributors  to  the  Christian  charities  of  the 
city,  the  former  having  done  noble  work  for  a  couple  of  years  past  in 
the  management  of  the  city  hospital. 

Company  D  of  the  First  Regiment  Nebraska  National  Guards  is 
the  best  drilled  militia  company  in  the  State.  Captain,  L.  H.  Che- 
ney ;  1st  Lieutenant,  W.  M.  Decker ;  2d  Lieutenant,  C.  H.  Fox  worthy. 
The  company  has  forty-nine  men. 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  299 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Irish  National  League— Lincoln  as  the  Head-quartees  of  this 
Powerful  Organization— Sketch  of  the  Lives  of  the  Lincoln  Men 
WHO  ARE  Prominent  in  the  League. 

Lincoln  having  been  for  five  years  past  the  headquarters  for  the 
Irish  National  League  of  America,  a  brief  sketch  of  that  powerful 
organization  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

Since  the  first  attempt  of  the  English  to  subjugate  the  Irish  people, 
hardly  a  generation  of  Irishmen  has  passed  without  protest  against  the 
usurpation  of  Ireland's  national  rights  by  an  alien  government. 
Through  many  centuries  the  story  of  this  national  resistance  drags  its 
bloody  trail,  down  to  the  last  great  rising  of  1798,  when  Antrim, 
Presbyterian,  and  Wexford,  Roman  Catholic,  made  a  daring  attempt 
to  establish  an  Irish  republic  on  Irish  soil.  They  failed;  but  the 
memory  of  their  heroism  lived  on  to  inspire  the  patriots  of  later  years. 

The  agitation  of  O'Connell  had  sunk  into  lethargy;  the  brave  spirits 
of  '98  had  gone  to  other  lands,  with  all  their  energy  and  all  their  gen- 
ius; famine  and  pestilence  had  made  Ireland  a  grave  yard ;  and  the 
w^orld  M'itnessed  the  greatest  exodus  of  a  people  since  the  national  mi- 
grations of  antiquity.  Gavan  Duffy,  sailing  for  Australia,  said  he 
left  Ireland  a  corpse  on  the  dissecting  table;  but  the  indomitable  heart 
of  the  gallant  little  nation  was  still  beating,  thougli  feebly.  Then  it 
was  that  James  Stephens  sewed  the  seeds  that  grew  into  the  formida- 
ble Fenian  Brotherhood.  Alas!  the  curse  of  dissension  made  its  ap- 
pearance; the  powerful  conspiracy  was  forced  into  precipitate  action, 
and  failure  was  again  written  on  Ireland's  struggles  for  freedonj. 
Among  the  gallant  spirits  sent  to  penal  servitude  for  Fenianism  was  a 
dark-faced,  thoughtful  young  man,  who,  though  deprived  of  his  right 
arm,  was  destined  to  work  great  things  for  Ireland.  Michael  Davitt, 
the  one-armed  young  patriot,  was  sentenced  to  seven  years  incarcera- 
tion in  a  British  dungeon.  Better  for  the  enemies  of  Ireland  if  they 
had  hanged  him.     During  the  lonely  hours  he  thought  out  the  Ti-ish 


300  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

question,  and  he  studied  the  causes  of  Irehind's  constant  faihires.  He 
became  convinced  that  it  was  only  madness  to  dream  of  encountering^ 
Euirland's  armies  in  the  field.  But  he  was  fi  mi  liar  with  the  social 
miseries  and  inequalities  of  privilege  that  formed  the  common  inheri- 
tage  of  the  British  and  Irish  masses,  and  he  believed  that  an  agitation 
in  Ireland,  going  as  far  as  but  not  beyond  the  limit  of  revolution,, 
for  the  destruction  of  the  Irish  land  system,  combined  with  a  demand 
for  the  establishment  of  a  parliament  in  Ireland  to  legislate  for  local 
needs,  would  touch  a  sympathetic  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the  British 
masses  and  prove  much  stronger  than  merely  argumentative  pleadings 
in  parliament,  and  more  likely  to  succeed  than  armed  insurrection. 
He  would  agitate  wdthout,  and  proper  representatives  should  voice 
the  people's  cry  within  the  walls  of  the  British  parliament.  When 
the  prison  doors  were  opened,  Davitt  went  to  work  to  put  his  ideas 
into  practical  shape,  and  the  result  was  the  establishment  of  the  Irish 
Land  League  in  1879.  Davitt  and  Thomas  Brennan,  now  of  Omaha, 
were  its  evangelists.  Patrick  Egan  became  Treasurer,  and  Charles 
Stuart  Parnell,  the  parliamentary  and  de  facto  leader  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, at  once  espoused  the  new  organization.  Soon  thereafter  branches 
of  the  league  were  formed  in  America,  and  the  Irish  Land  League 
of  America  became  a  strong  organization.  Though  Irishmen  were 
not  numerous  in  Lincoln  at  that  period,  they  made  up  in  energy  what 
tiiey  lacked  in  numbers,  and  a  branch  of  the  Land  League  was  formed 
here  with  the  following  officers:  President,  Hon.  John  Fitzgerald;; 
Vice  President,  Rev.  M.  A.  Kennedy;  2d  Vice  President,  General 
Victor  Vifquain  ;  Secretary,  Thomas  Carr;  Treasurer,  P].  P.  Cagney. 
It  may  be  remarked,  incidentally,  that  in  1867,  the  gallant  General 
Vifquain  went  to  Ireland  to  give  the  Irish  cause  the  service  of  his 
well-tried  military  experience. 

In  1882  (the  I^and  I/cague  was  suppressed  in  Ireland,  and  Parnell 
organized  the  existing  Irish  National  League.  Early  in  1883  a 
great  convention  of  Irishmen  and  descendants  of  Irishmen  was  held- 
in  PhiUulclphia,  and  the  American  Land  I^eague  was  merged  into  a 
new  organization  known  as  the  Irish  National  League  of  America^ 
the  objects  of  which  are  simply  to  sustain  in  every  necessary  way,  the 
constitutional  policy  of  l\n"nell  in  his  efforts  to  secui'c  Home  Rule  for 
Ireland.  Alexander  Sullivan,  Rev.  Dr.  O'Reilly,  of  Detroit,  and 
Roger  Walsh,  as  President,  Treasurer  and  Secretary  respectively,  con- 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  301 

«titute(l  the  first  executive  officers  of  the  league.  At  a  convention  hekl 
in  Boston  in  1884,  Patrick  Egan,  then  a  resident  of  Lincoln — where 
he  settled  after  escaping  the  clutches  of  Dublin  Castle  officials,  who 
on  any  pretext  would  have  hanged  him  as  a  recompense  for  his  pat- 
riotic devotion — was  elected  President,  and  with  ]\lr.  Egan  the  head- 
quarters of  the  league  came  to  Lincoln,  where  it  has  since  remained. 
In  January,  '86,  Secretary  Walsh  having  resigned,  Jno.  P.  Sutton  suc- 
ceeded him  and  became  a  citizen  of  Lincoln.  The  third  convention  of 
the  Irish  National  League  of  America  took  place  in  Chicago  in  August, 
1886,  and  our  fellow^  townsman,  Hon.  John  Fitzgerald,  was  elected  to 
the  Presidency  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  Treasurer  O'Reilly  and  Sec- 
retary Sutton  being  reelected  to  their  respective  offices  w'ithout  oppo- 
sition. The  Irishmen  of  Lincoln  have  done  good  service  to  the  Irish 
cause.  In  December,  1885,  Lincoln  contributed  |2,400,  and  in  1888 
^1,171,  besides  nearly^600  for  the  sufferers  in  the  blizzard  of  Janu- 
ary, 1888.  The  meetings  of  the  League  are  features  T)f  Lincoln  life^ 
-and  are  largely  attended.  The  present  local  officers  are  P.  O.  Cassidy, 
President;  E.  P.  Cagney,  Treasurer,  and  John  P.  Sutton,  Secretary. 
The  local  ex-Presidents  are  John  Fitzgerald,  Patrick  Egan,  and  J.  J. 
Butler. 

As  the  names  of  Fitzgerald,  Egan,  and  Sutton,  have  been  so  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  League  for  years,  and  all  being  residents  of 
Lincoln,  it  is  eminently  proper  that  this  w'ork  should  give  some  ex- 
tended personal  notice  of  these  men. 

Hon.  John  Fitzgerald  was  born  over  fifty  years  ago,  in  Limerick, 
•county,  Ireland.  His  father  was  a  tenant  farmer  holding  at  the  same 
time  a  small  piece  of  free-hold  property,  the  remnant  of  a  more  ample 
estate  that  had  once  been  in  the  possession  of  his  ancestors,  but  which 
had  been  reduced  to  a  few  acres  by  the  operation  of  laws  that  had 
proved  only  too  successful  in  bringing  the  old  landed  proprietors  to 
beggary  and  ruin.  Edward  Fitzgerald,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
our  sketch,  was  evicted  from  his  farm,  and  seeing  the  poverty  and  de- 
<;ay  that  surrounded  him  on  all  sides,  leased  his  little  free-hold,  and 
with  his  sons  sailed  for  the  United  States,  back  in  the  "forties." 

At  that  time  there  w^as  considerable  prejudice  against  Irish  immi- 
gration to  America,  and  if  the  immigrant  from  the  Green  Isle  found 
a  fair  field,  he  could  also  say  that  he  found  no  favor.  Americans  of 
that  dav  are  not  to  be  liehtlv  blamed.     American  literature  was  in  its 


HON.  JOHN    FTT/GERALP. 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  303 

infancy.  The  mental  food  of  the  people  was  mainly  derived  from 
English  sources,  and  the  character  of  the  Irish  people  was  delineated 
by  men  imbued  with  racial  hatreds.  Reared  in  this  atmosphere  of  dis- 
torted teachings,  and  fed  upon  unrefuted  calumnies,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  the  mass  of  Americans  felt  prejudiced  toward  the  Irish  race, 
whose  most  numerous  representatives  were  the  unlettered  and  poverty- 
stricken  victims  of  a  tyranny  described  by  Edmund  Burke  as  the 
most  perfect  system  ever  devised  by  the  perverted  ingenuity  of  man 
to  drive  a  nation  mad.  The  immigrants,  too,  had  their  serious  faults, 
which,  though  doubtless  the  engendered  results  of  a  century  of  oppres- 
sion, helped  to  increase  the  aversion  prejudice  had  already  excited 
against  them.  Intemperance  was  painfully  prevalent,  and  faction- 
fighting  was  a  vice  that  long  baffled  the  efforts  of  the  priest  and  pa- 
triot to  destroy  it.  Americans  are  a  just  people,  and  are  quick  to 
fling  away  their  prejudices  when  convinced  that  they  are  in  error,  and 
few  are  more  ready  to  recognize  and  reward  true  merit. 

The  Fitzgerald  family,  after  arriving  in  New  York,  pushed  west- 
ward, to  find  employment  in  the  great  public  works  which  evenutually 
made  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  the  leading  States  of  the  Union, 
They  quickly  developed  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which  won  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  leading  contractors  of  that  day.  John 
Fitzgerald  was  then  a  youth  of  seventeen  summers,  with  a  strong, 
muscular  frame,  and  a  vigorous  constitution.  He  Avas  then,  and  al- 
ways has  been,  a  strict  disciple  of  Father  INIathew,  from  whom  he 
had  received  the  pledge  while  yet  almost  an  infant.  A  salient  feature 
of  his  character  is  his  incontrollable  desire  to  be  doing  something. 

In  those  early  days,  after  the  close  of  the  open  season,  it  was  usual 
for  the  great  armies  of  canal  builders  to  withdraw  for  the  winter  to 
the  neighboring  towns,  waiting  for  the  spring  to  resume  work.  ( )nly 
too  many  frittered  away  in  these  idle  days,  all  the  money  they  had 
accumulated  by  hard  labor  in  the  burning  heat  of  summer.  The 
Fitzgeralds  were  men  of  a  different  stamp,  and  did  not  believe  in 
making  their  summers  pay  for  their  winters.  They  sought  such  work 
as  could  be  found,  even  if  the  remuneration  hardly  paid  their  living 
expenses.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions  that  John  Fitzgerald  ac- 
cepted work  from  a  farmer  for  his  board  and  seven  dollars  per  month. 
At  another  time  he  was  working  for  a  farmer,  digging  ditches,  when 
his  quick  perception  showed  him  how  he  could  do  the  work  by  con- 


304  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

ract,  make  iiioney  for  himself,  secure  better  wages  for  his  companions, 
and  give  greater  satisfaction  to  the  farmer.  He  made  his  proposition 
to  the  hitter,  and  it  was  accepted. 

In  twenty-four  hours  John  Fitzgerald  was  a  contractor,  his  fellow- 
workmen  became  his  employes,  and  he  stood  on  equal  ground  with 
liis  former  employer.  The  job  was  finished  much  quicker  than  the 
farmer  liad  calculated,  and  the  work  Avasdoneto  his  complete  satisfac- 
tion. Tlic  laborers  received  higher  wages  than  their  agreement  with 
the  farmer  had  called  for,  and  John  Fitzgerald  had  a  good  round  sum 
of  money  to  the  credit  of  his  profit  and  loss  account.  That  was  Mr. 
Fitzgerald's  first  contract,  and  to-day  he  speaks  of  it  with  greater  pride 
than  of  all  the  enterprises  of  magnitude  he  has  since  completed. 

The  reputation  achieved  by  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  his  sons  did 
much  in  the  districts  wherein  they  labored,  to  raise  the  character  of 
the  Irish  in  American  opinion,  and  contractors  were  glad  not  only  to 
employ  them,  but  to  sublet  to  them  large  portions  of  their  work. 

After  the  death  of  their  father,  in  New  York  State,  the  brothers, 
Edward  and  John,  turned  their  attention  to  the  construction  of  rail- 
roads. After  satisfactorily  completing  important  contracts  in  New 
Enghuul  during  the  war,  they  gradually  worked  westward  until  they 
reached  Wisconsin,  where  they  built  several  hundred  miles  of  rail- 
road. Following  the  star  of  empire,  the  brothers  penetrated  through 
Iowa  with  their  iron  highways.  After  the  death  of  liis  brother  Ed- 
ward, John  assumed  control  of  what  had  become  a  vast  business,  and 
after  building  the  greater  part  of  the  C.  B.  &  Q.  in  Iowa,  crossed  the 
Missouri  and  took  up  work  for  the  B.  &  M.  and  Union  Pacific  roads, 
until  his  name  became  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  history  of  rail- 
roading from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Rocky  mountains. 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  made  his  first  home  in  Nebraska  at  Plattsmouth, 
M-here  he  owns  a  very  large  amount  of  property.  Since  becoming  a 
resident  of  this  State,  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  besides  his  work  in  Nebraska, 
was  associated  witli  S.  Mallory  esq.,  C.  E.,  of  Chariton,  Iowa,  and 
Martin  Flynn  esq.,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  in  the  construction  of  the 
Cincinnati  Southern  road  through  Tennessee;  also  in  building  the 
Denver,  McmjJiis  S:  Atlantic  railway,  in  association  witli  the  Fitz- 
gerald &  Mallory  Construction  Company.  The  latest  enterprise  of 
our  active  townsman  is  the  construction  of  the  St.  Louis  &  Canada 
railroad  in  Mic|ii(ran  and  Indiana. 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  305 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  lias  very  extensive  landed  property  in  Nebraska. 
The  man  who  as  a  boy  looked  with  tear-filled  eyes  upon  the  few  fields 
from  which  he  and  his  father  were  evicted,  is  to-day  the  owner  of  two 
■of  the  largest  and  best  managed  farms  in  America,  embracing  8,00(J 
;acres  of  unsurpassed  fertility  at  Greenwood,  and  6,000  equally  as 
good  in  Gage  county,  in  this  State.  In  addition,  he  has  several  farms 
.in  Wisconsin  and  other  states. 

His  investments  in  commercial  lines  are  many  and  extensive.  He 
•owns  the  large  West  Lincoln  Brick  and  Tile  Works,  and  also  has  a 
•controlling  interest  in  the  Rapid  Transit  company,  of  which  he  is  Pres- 
ident. He  is  also  President  of  the  First  National  Banks  of  Platts- 
mouth  and  Greenwood,  and  of  the  Nebraska  Stock  Yards  Company, 
and  a  Director  of  the  First  National  and  Union  Savings  Banks  of 
Lincoln.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  is  also  laro-elv  interested  in  mercantile  in- 
■vestments,  and  has  stores  in  different  parts  of  the  State. 

His  first  experience  with  Lincoln  was  Colonel  Tom  Hyde's  iuvita- 
tion  to  the  hospitality  of  a  shanty,  and  his  first  bed  in  the  same  shanty 
was  a  buffalo  robe  on  the  gronnd,  damp  with  recent  rains.  To-day 
his  magnificent  residence  and  beautifully  laid  out  grounds  crown 
Mount  Emerald,  the  finest  elevation  in  the  city,  and  here  he  loves  to 
•extend  the  genuine  hospitality  typical  of  the  Geraldine. 

His  splendid  wholesale  business  block  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and 
P  is  rapidly  approaching  completion,  and  it  is  but  the  precursor  of 
other  statelv  edifices  with  which  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  enterprise  will  eni- 
•bellish  the  city  he  has  chosen  for  his  home,  and  which  owes  so  much 
to  his  untiring  energy. 

Although  the  most  liberal  and  tolerant  of  men,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  is  a 
strict  Roman  Catholic,  and  a  munificent  contributor  to  his  church. 
The  Convent  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus  is  the  gift  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  to 
the  nuns  of  that  order,  and  his  subscriptions  in  aid  of  the  Catholic 
■Church  of  Lincoln  have  been  generous  and  constant.  Some  three 
jears  ago  he  gave  a  large  sum  to  help  in  the  construction  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church  in  Rome,  and  Pope  Leo  XIII,  in  recognition  of  his 
generosity,  sent  him  a  valuable  gold  medal. 

The  Geraldine  race,  kin  with  the  Gherardini  of  Florence,  and 
boasting  its  descent  from  Eneas,  the  Trojan  hero,  has  been  conspicu- 
ous for  its  heroic  fidelity  to  the  fate  and  fortunes  of  the  Irish  nation. 
Its  blood  has  poured  out  on  every  battlefield  for  Irish  liberty,  its  sons 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  307 

have  perished  with  stoicism  in  the  dungeou,  and  looked  scorn  from 
the  scaffold.  The  castles  of  the  Geraldines  stud  the  river  banks  and 
mountain  glens  of  Munster,  and  few  are  the  tales  of  fairy  lore  and 
Aveird  romance  in  which  some  Fitzgerald  does  not  play  a  conspicuous 
role.  With  the  blood  of  this  fiery  clan  in  his  veins,  it  is  but  natural 
that  Mr.  Fitzgerald  should  be  ardently  attached  to  the  cause  of  Ire- 
land. From  boyhood  to  the  present  moment  he  has  supported  every 
movement  consecrated  to  Irish  liberty,  and  there  has  hardly  been  an 
Irish  convention  which  he  has  not  attended.  Unambitious  for  office^ 
with  no  personal  views,  but  influenced  by  an  earnest  desire  to  see  his 
country  enjoy  the  liberty  so  many  of  his  race  had  died  for,  his  time^ 
and  his  purse,  and  his  quiet  word  of  sound  advice,  were  ever  at  the 
service  of  Ireland.  The  qualities  of  the  man  could  hardly  escape 
recognition,  and  in  1886  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  Irish  National 
League  of  America.  His  period  of  office  has  been  a  troubled  one^ 
great  events  having  transpired  during  his  administration ;  but  he  has 
filled  the  position  with  honor  to  himself  and  to  the  Irish  cause.  His 
cool,  conservative  policy,  his  strong  determination  to  keep  the  league 
free  from  political  entanglements  and  from  alliances  that  could  in 
any  way  compromise  the  action  of  Parnell  and  his  colleagues,  has 
merited  and  received  the  warm  approbation  not  only  of  the  Irish  lead- 
ers, but  of  the  best  friends  of  Ireland  in  America.  To  everything 
that  can  add  to  the  welfare  of  the  Irish  cause,  and  to  the  benefit  of 
his  race,  John  Fitzgerald  has  been  conspicuously  generous. 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  is,  in  American  politics,  a  strong  Democrat,  and  a 
warm  supporter  of  his  party,  bus  has  invariably  refused  to  accept  any 
political  honors.  From  men  of  all  shades  of  religious  and  political 
belief  Mr.  Fitzgerald  receives  the  respect  due  to  his  strict  integrity 
and  his  boundless  energy. 

Fortunate  in  his  business,  he  is  equally  blessed  in  his  domestic  life. 
Mrs.  Fitzgerald  is  a  most  estimable  lady,  and  as  remarkable  for  her 
kind,  unostentatious  benevolence,  as  her  husband  is  for  his  more  active 
qualities.  Their  family  consists  of  four  children,  and  since  their  mar- 
riage no  cloud  has  darkened  the  summer  of  their  lives. 

John  P.  Sutton  was  born  in  Ireland  in  ]  845,  and  came  to  this 
country  in  1865.  Mr.  Sutton  entered  the  army  and  was  Post  Sergeant 
Major  of  Fort  Bridger,  Wyomiug,  in  1866,  and  subsequently  of  Fort 


308 


HISTOllV    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Sedgwick,  Colorado,  in  18G8.  When  discharged  he  was  First  Sergeant 
of  H  Company,  Eighteenth  Infantry.  Mr.  Sutton  was  recommended 
by  his  superior  officers  to  apply  for  a  commission,  but  the  great  re- 
duction of  the  army  at  that  time,  and  the  prospect  of  continued  peace, 
gave  small  encouragement  to  a  young  officer's  hopes  of  advancement ; 
so  Sergeant  Sutton  abandoned  his  military  career  after  receiving  the 
highest  commendations  from  Col.  Carrington,  Lieut.  Col.  Mills,  Major 
A.  S.  Burt,  and  other  officers.  His  family  had  emigrated  from  Ireland 
to  Canada  in  1804,  and  his  father  filled  a  responsible  position  in  the 


«?/#'te#^'  ^ 


HOX.  JOHX    P.   SUTTON. 


Union  Bank  of  Lower  Canada,  in  Quebec.  Mr.  Sutton  rejoined  his 
family  with  the  intention  of  remaining  only  a  short  time,  but  smitten 
by  the  charms  of  a  young  Irish-Canadian  lady,  he  married  and  settled 
down  in  Canada.  lie  always  considered  himself  an  American  citizen, 
and  carefully  eschewed  all  participation  in  Canadian  politics.  He  was 
for  several  years  accountant  for  Ross  &  Co.,  one  of  the  greatest  mer- 
cantile houses  in  Canada.  Owing  to  his  independence  of  all  political 
parties,  and  his  advocacy  of  tlie  Irish  cause,  he  was  very  popular  with 
liis  countrymen   in   (Quebec,  and  was  President  of  the  Quebec  branch 


THE    IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE.  309 

of  the  league  while  he  remained  in  that  city.  In  1885  he  moved  to 
Chicago,  and  while  there  was  asked  to  return  to  Canada  aiid  stir  up 
the  Irishmen  of  the  Dominion  to  active  support  of  the  cause.  His 
efforts  were  rewarded  with  a  large  measure  of  success.  In  January, 
1886,  he  accepted  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Irish  National  League  dur- 
ing Mr.  Egan's  administration,  but  resigned  in  May  of  the  same  year 
to  assume  the  position  of  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  Fitzgerald  & 
Mallory  Construction  Co.,  offered  him  by  John  Fitzo-crald  who  M-as 
General  Manager  and  Treasurer  of  the  company.  At  the  Irish  League 
convention  of  1886,  Mr.  Sutton  was  unanimously  reelected  Secretary 
of  the  league,  and  returned  to  Lincoln  in  October  of  the  same  year, 
and  has  since  resided  here.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sutton  have  a  family  of 
four  children. 

Hon.  Patrick  Egan,  now  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  Ignited 
States  to  the  Republic  of  Chili,  South  America,  was  born  at  Bally- 
mahon  county,  Longford,  Ireland,  August  31,  1841.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  entered  the  office  of  an  extensive  grain  and  milling  firm 
in  Dublin,  and  before  he  was  twenty  had  been  promoted  to  the  post  of 
chief  bookkeeper  and  confidential  man.  Later  he  was  elected  man- 
aging director  of  this,  as  a  stock  company,  it  being  the  most  extensive 
one  in  Ireland.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  senior  pai'tner  in  the  most 
extensive  bakery  establishment  in  the  county.  He  had  been  an  indus- 
trious learner  before  going  into  business,  and  all  this  time  took  even- 
ing lessons  of  various  instructors,  and  particularly  of  a  brilliant  young 
,  Episcopal  minister  of  Dublin  named  Porte. 

His  extensive  and  close  connection  with  the  business  interests  of 
the  country  brought  him  ftice  to  face  with  the  terrible  system  of  land- 
lord oppression  and  tyranny  which  was  impoverishing  the  country 
and  decimating  the  people,  and  as  far  back  as  1863  he  became  an  act- 
ive worker  in  the  ranks  of  the  advanced  national  party,  taking  his 
full  share  of  all  the  labors  and  risks  of  the  movement  which  brought 
about  the  attempted  insurrection  of  1867.  In  1871,  with  Isaac  Butt 
and  others,  Mr.  Egan  took  an  active  part  in  founding  the  Home  Rule 
League,  and  as  one  of  the  council  of  that  body  helped  to  spread  the 
good  work  throughout  the  country. 

For  ten  years  prior  to  the  formation  of  the  Land  League,  in  1879, 
Patrick  Egan  was  regarded  as  if  not  the  ablest  at  least  one  of  tlie 
most  important  factors  in  the  national  movement  in  Ireland. 


SIO  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

All  this  time  he  was  the  close  fi'iend  and  confidant  of  the  brilliant 
Isaac  Butt,  fonnder  of  the  Home  Knle  movement;  of  John  Martin, 
Professor  Galbraith,  Charles  Stuart  Parnell,  and  men  of  equal  emi- 
nence. 

When  the  Land  League  was  formed,  in  October,  1879,  Patrick  Egan 
w^as  unanimously  chosen  one  of  its  three  trustees  and  its  acting  Treas- 
urer, and  in  December  of  that  year  he  relinquished  the  management  ot 
his  large  business  entirely  to  his  partners  and  threw  himself  into  the 
work  of  the  Land  League  relief  fund,  in  which  he  labored  almost  night 
and  day  for  months,  distributing  relief  to  the  victims  of  landlord  ex- 
tortion, besides  performing  much  labor  for  the  general  amelioration 
of  the  agricultural,  financial,  and  commercial,  condition  of  the  Irish 
people.  Xear  the  close  of  1880,  he,  with  twelve  others,  including 
Parnell,  Dillon,  Bigger,  Sexton,  Sullivan,  Sheridan,  and  Harris,  were 
singled  out  by  the  government  for  prosecution  for  alleged  conspiracy. 
After  a  costly  trial  of  sixteen  days  the  jury  stood  ten  for  acquittal 
and  two  for  conviction.  The  crovernment  did  not  dare  arraign  them 
again,  but  brought  in  a  bill  to  suspend  the  habeas  coiyus  act,  and  to 
permit  the  arrest  of  any  one  obnoxious  to  the  government,  intending 
to  proscribe  all  members  of  tiie  league. 

Messrs.  Parnell,  Dillon,  Davitt,  and  other  patriotic  leaders,  per- 
suaded Mr.  Egan  to  go  to  Paris  to  prevent  the  government  from  con- 
fiscating the  league  funds.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  Paris  in 
February,  1881,  and  remained  until  the  close  of  1882.  Much  of  this 
time  the  entire  management  and  responsibility  for  the  policy  and  acts 
of  the  league  fell  upon  him,  because  the  other  members  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  were  in  English  prisons.  But  he  performed  the  work 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  colleagues,  handling  large  sums  of  money 
and  accounting  for  every  cent,  and  so  profitably  investing  it  as  to 
turn  over  to  the  league  1 26,000  in  returns.  For  these  three  years  he 
gave  his  time  to  the  league  without  a  cent  of  compensation. 

During  the  struggle  from  1880  to  1882  Mr.  Egan  was  frequently 
pressed  to  stand  for  parliament,  in  fact,  was  twice  unanimously  nomi- 
nated, once  for  Queen's  county  and  again  for  county  Meath,  but  he 
declined  because  he  could  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  England 
required  by  the  government. 

Learning  that  the  English  government  was  conspiring  to  arrest 
himself  and  colleague,  and  make  him  the  victim  of  a  pretended  trial, 


THE   IRISH    NATIONAL    LEAGUE. 


311 


he  quietly  removed  to  Holland,  and  then  came  to  the  United  States 
sind  became  a  citizen  of  Lincoln,  Neb.  Here  he  settled  down  to  his 
accustomed  grain  business,  but  never  lagged  for  a  moment  in  his  ac- 
tivity in  defense  of  the  cause  of  Ireland. 

.  He  was  one  of  three  upon  whose  call  was  held  the  great  Irish  con- 
vention of  April,  1883,  at  Philadelphia,  at  which  the  Land  League 
was  dissolved  and  the  present  Irish  National  League  of  America  was 
founded,  and  at  the  next  convention  of  the  league,  held  in  Boston,  in 


HON.   PATRICK   EGAIf. 


1884,  he  was  elected  President,  which  office  he  held  for  two  years. 
During  his  term  of  office  the  league  in  America  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. It  sent  to  Ireland  about  ^350,000,  besides  doing  nmch  to 
solidify  the  Irish  element  in  this  country.  Under  the  rules  of  the 
leao-ue  the  President  is  entitled  to  a  salary  of  $3,000  per  year,  but 
Mr.  Egan  returned,  as  a  donation  to  the  league  fund,  his  two  years 
salary  of  $6,000. 

He  was,  all  this  time,  an  active  and  useful  citizen  of  city.  State,  and 
nation.     He  espoused  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party,  espe- 


312  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

cially  with  reference  to  the  revenue  policy  of  this  country,  regarding- 
the  free-trade  theories  as  certain  to  produce  the  same  calamities  to  the 
people  of  this  nation  as  British  free  trade  has  brought  upon  Ireland. 
In  ^lay,  1888,  he  was  elected  delegate-at-large  to  the  National  Re- 
publican Convention  by  a  vote  of  594  to  67,  and  was  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  that  convention,  declining  the  chairmanship  in  favor  of  Hon. 
John  M.  Thurston. 

But,  perhaps,  Mr.  Egan's  most  brilliant  achievement  remains  to- 
be  told.  The  English  Government  and  I^ondon  Times  had  entered 
into  a  conspiracy  to  destroy  Charles  Stuart  Parnell,  and  through 
him  the  cause  of  Ireland,  by  arraigning  him  before  a  prejudiced 
court  on  a  false  charge,  based  on  letters  forged  by  a  man  named 
Piggott,  who  had  sold  the  forgeries  to  the  Times  for  money.  By  a 
systematic  comparison  of  Piggott's  known  writing  and  language  with 
the  forgeries,  as  well  as  by  means  of  facts  already  known  in  part  to 
Mr.  Egan,  he  was  enabled  to  weave  such  a  demonstration  of  the 
forgeries  that,  at  a  critical  moment  in  the  trial,  when  the  Tories 
almost  felt  sure  of  victory,  Piggott  was  suddenly  confronted  with 
Mr.  Egan's  overwhelming  proofs  of  his  villainy.  He  confessed  his 
iniquity,  fled  to  Europe,  and  destroyed  himself.  Of  course  the  case 
against  Mr.  Parnell  fell  to  the  ground,  amid  the  derision  of  the 
Avorld.     This  culmination  came  about  the  first  of  the  present  year. 

He  is  the  father  of  fourteen  children,  nine  of  whom  are  living, 
one  daughter  being  married  and  a  resident  of  Dublin.  One  of  his^ 
children  was  born  in  France,  one  in  America,  and  the  others  in  Ire- 
land.    His  residence  in  Lincoln  has  been  at  1447  Q  street. 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  313 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Banks  of  the  City  and  Her  Other  Financial  Institutions— Lin- 
coln AS  A  Solid  Financial  Center  of  the  State. 

The  first  bank  of  Lincoln  was  established  in  June,  1868,  by 
James  Sweet  and  N.  C.  Brock.  Preceding  chapters  give  a  record  of 
this  bank  and  the  gentlemen  Avho  conducted  it,  it  being  one  of  the 
most  important  and  prominent  of  the  early  banking  institutions  of 
the  State.  This  enterprise  was  not  long  allowed  to  occupy  the  field 
alone. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Lincoln,  southeast  corner  O  and  Tenth 
streets,  established  and  chartered  February  24,  1871,  is  the  successor^ 
so  to  speak,  of  a  private  bank  founded  a  short  time  previously  by 
Judge  Amasa  Cobb  and  J,  F.  Sudduth,  Judge  Cobb  being  President, 
and  Mr.  Sudduth  Cashier.  Among  the  early  stockholders  of  the  First 
National  bank  can  be  named  Robert  D.  Silvers,  E.  E.  Brown,  A.  L. 
Palmer,  John  Cadman,  J.  N.  Eckmau,  W.  R.  Field,  Chester  School- 
craft, Prof.  J.  G.  Miller,  George  W.  Cobb,  and  W.  P.  Phillips. 
Judge  Cobb  was  the  first  President  of  the  bank  after  its  incorporation, 
and  J.  F.  Sudduth  the  first  Cashier.  In  1874  Messrs.  John  Fitz- 
gerald and  John  R.  Clark  bought  an  interest  in  the  bank,  and  soon 
after  this  Mr.  Fitzgerald  was  made  President,  and  Mr.  Clark  Cashier, 
Mr.  Sudduth  being  made  Vice  President,  which  place  he  held  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1880.  No  change  was  made  in 
the  officers  of  the  bank  from  that  time  until  June,  1889,  wheu  Mr. 
Clark  was  made  President,  D.  D.  Muir  Cashier,  and  C.  S.  Lippincott 
Assistant  Cashier.  Mr.  Muir  had  previously  been  Assistant  Cashier 
for  a  number  of  years.  Since  1880  the  management  of  the  bank  has 
been  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Clark,  and  to  his  financial 
ability,  and  careful  management  is  the  success  of  the  institution  chiefly 
due.  As  a  matter  of  history,  and  showing  the  growth  of  business  of 
the  bank,  a  comparison  of  some  figures  from  1872,  with  the  report  of 
its  condition  on  July  12,  1889,  will  be  of  especial  interest. 
21 


314 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LTxNX'OLN. 


Ill  lS7i>  the  loans  and  disconnts  anionnted  to  )^87,177.63;  U.  S. 
bonds,  $50,000;  together  m  itli  other  items  making  up  total  resources 
of  82:)2,9()9.97.  The  liabilities  at  that  time  were:  Capital  stock, 
S50,00U ;  surplus  fund,  §10,000;  circulation,  $45,000 ;  deposits,  |123,- 
865.76 ;  and  other  items  making  the  balance. 

On  June  12,  1889,  the  official  statement  of  the  bank  shows  as  fol- 
lows: Resources  —  Loans  and  discounts,  $920,906.50;  U.  S.  bonds, 
850,000.00;  real  estate,  $76,510.52;  expenses  and  taxes,  $2,221.69; 
cash  and  sight  exchange,  $345,153.39;  total,  $1,394,792.00. 


RESIDENCE   OF   J.  D.  MACFARLAND. 


Li:il)ilities  — Capital  stock,  $200,000;  surplus  and  profits,  $72,- 
382.10;  circulation,  $45,000;  deposits,  $1,077,409.90;  total,  $1,394,- 
792.00. 

The  present  directors  are  John  R.  Clark,  John  Fitzgerald,  J.  D. 
McFarland,  and  I).  D.  INIuir. 


The  State  National  Bank,  of  Lincoln,  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
prosperous  financial   institutions  of  Nebraska.     It  was  founded  in 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  315 

1872,  by  the  Richards  Brothers,  and  was  purchased  by  Messrs.  E.  E. 
Brown,  K.  K.  Hayden,  and  others,  in  1885,  and  reorganized.  Since 
the  second  organization  it  has  made  constant  progress  in  its  business 
and  in  public  favor.  This  will  be  perceived  to  be  manifest  when  the 
fact  is  stated  that  in  four  years  past  it  has  doubled  its  capital,  and 
more  than  doubled  its  business,  notwithstanding  the  organization  of 
five  new  banks  in  the  city  during,  that  period.  The  confidence  of  the 
public  in  this  excellent  institution  is  exhibited  in  the  very  large  aggre- 
gate sum  of. deposits  its  official  statements  now  show.  In  this  proof 
of  public  favor  it  has  no  superior  in  the  State,  all  things  considered. 

The  success  of  the  State  National  Bank  doubtless  rests  upon  the 
able  business  ability  of  its  officers  and  directors,  and  their  high  char- 
acter as  citizens.  It  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  names  of  these 
gentlemen  to  demonstrate  that  they  are  a  very  strong  company,  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  long  business  experience  in  this  community  and 
State,  unquestioned  integrity,  and  their  peculiar  fitness  for  conducting 
the  extensive  financial  affairs  of  the  bank. 

Hon.  E.  E.  Brown,  President  of  the  bank,  has  been  identified  with 
the  city  and  its  progress  almost  from  the  time  Lincoln  was  founded; 
He  was  Mayor  of  the  city  in  1872,  and  was  for  years  recognized  as 
the  most  able  attorney,  and  scarcely  excelled  in  legal  acquirements  in 
the  State.  He  was  always  distinguished  for  his  very  thorough  busi- 
ness habits,  his  prudence  and  sagacity  in  business,  and  his  financial 
success.  He  discontinued  his  law  practice  when  he  accepted  the  Pres- 
idency and  a  large  share  of  the  responsibility  in  the  management  of 
the  bank,  in  order  to  give  its  affairs  the  more  perfect  attention. 

Hon.  J.  J.  Imhoff  is  the  Vice  President  of  the  State  National  Bank, 
and  also  one  of  the  directors.  Mr.  Imhoff  was  a  successful  merchant 
and  capitalist  of  Nebraska  City  before  Lincoln  was  platted,  in  1867, 
and  was  one  of  the  leading  founders  of  the  city.  He  built  up  the 
Capital  Hotel  property  from  a  value  of  |5,000  to  a  value  of  §115,000 
in  fifteen  years.  He  is  one  of  the  largest,  most  successful,  and  enter- 
prising capitalists  of  Lincoln,  and  one  of  the  city's  most  useful  and 
respected  citizens. 

Hon.  G.  M.  Lambertson,  for  eight  years  United  States  District 
Attorney  for  Nebraska,  now  serving  his  second  term  as  the  City  Attor- 
ney for  Lincoln,  and  one  of  the  most  able  lawyers  and  business  men 
of  the  city,  is  also  a  director  in  this  strong  financial  institution.     Mr. 


31G 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Lambertson's  personal  intej^rity  is  too  well  established  in  Lincoln  to 
require  more  than  a  mention. 

Another  director,  and  also  the  Cashier  of  this  bank  is  Mr.  K.  K. 
Harden,  who  is  one  of  the  most  thorough  business  men  in  Nebraska. 
Ml-.  Hayden  has  built  himself  into  his  present  honorable  and  respon- 
sible })osition  by  his  unyielding  courage,  his  tireless  application  to 
every  detail  of  all  business  entrusted  to  his  charge,  and  his  inflexible 
adherence  to  strict  business  methods  at  all  times.  His  personal  career 
has  been  admirable  as  well  as  remarkable.     He  was  born  on  a  planta- 


STATE   NATIONAL  BANK   BUILDING. 


tion  in  St.  Mary's  county,  Maryland,  in  1855,  and  was  the  child  of 
luxury  and  the  pet  of  his  own  slaves  until  the  war  totally  ruined  the 
family  ftrtunc  and  brought  young  Hayden  to  a))solnte  ])overty.  After 
the  war  he  sold  papers  on  the  streets  of  Jialtimore,  and  earned  his  way 
by  hard  experience  in  other  occupations.  He  came  to  Omaha  in  1866,. 
and  in  1870  secured  a  position  as  bell  boy  in  the  First  National  J5ank 
of  Omaha,  at  a  salary  of  $15  per  month.  Within  five  years,  or  when 
twenty  years  old,  he  was  teller  in  that  bank,  and  remained  with  the 
I'ir.-t   National    for  eleven  years.     He  then  accepted  the  position  of 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  31 7 

Assistant  Cashier  in  the  Nebraska  National  Bank  of  the  same  city,  and 
hekl  this  position  until  he  was  appointed  National  Bank  Examiner 
by  President  Cleveland,  in  1885,  his  district  being  Nebraska  and 
Kansas. 

His  duties  made  iiim  acquainted  with  the  business  ])rospects  ofLin- 
"Coln,  and  the  merits  of  the  State  National  Bank  of  this  city,  and  he 
resigned  his  office  as  Bank  Inspector,  to  accept  the  position  of  Cashier 
of  this  bank,  a  position  he  has  held  ever  since.  It  is  easy,  therefore, 
to  understand  why  the  State  National  Bank  is  popular,  and  commands 
the  respect  of  business  men,  with  such  thorougli  business  men  as  the 
gentlemen  named,  with  all  their  special  training,  on  guard  over  the 
details  of  its  business. 

The  other  directors  of  the  bank,  Messrs.  Geo.  McMillan,  E.  Finney, 
and  H.  L.  Smith,  though  not  so  familiar  to  the  people  of  Lincoln  as 
some  of  the  gentlemen  named,  are  of  scarcely  less  merit  in  financial  or 
business  standing,  and  their  equal  in  personal  integrity.  Mr.  C.  E. 
Waite  is  the  Assistant  Cashier,  and  is  a  man  who  attends  strictly  to 
business,  and  has  also  had  considerable  banking  experience,  having 
resigned  the  cashiership  of  the  First  National  Bank,  Humboldt,  Neb., 
to  accept  his  present  position  with  the  State  National  Bank. 

No  financial  institution  of  Lincoln  has  shown  a  more  constant  growth 
than  the  Nebraska  Savings  Bank,  now  located  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  O  and  Thirteenth  streets,  and  no  other  bank  in  the  city  is  more  pro- 
gressive in  adopting  methods  that  contribute  to  the  interests  and  ad- 
vantage of  the  people  of  the  city  and  surrounding  country.  This  bank 
was  organized  on  July  20,  1886,  and  its  deposits  have  grown  from 
less  than  §2,000  on  August  1,  1886,  to  about  $85,000  on  the  same 
date  in  1889.     It  does  a  general  banking  business. 

The  management  of  the  bank  seeks  to  encourage  habits  of  frugality 
and  success  among  the  people,  and  to  this  end  has  adopted  a  savings- 
bank  department  for  the  public  schools  of  the  city,  similar  to  the  sys- 
tem so  successful  in  Europe  and  some  of  the  Eastern  States.  In  this 
course  the  Nebraska  Savings  Bank  was  in  advance  of  all  other  banks 
in  this  State.  The  principle  of  this  system  is  to  open  accounts  with 
the  school  children  and  receive  deposits  of  ten  cents  or  more,  upon 
which  interest  is  paid  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent  per  annum,  com- 
pounded semi-annually.    This  education  in  economy  is  carricil  on  sy>- 


318  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

tematically,  by  visiting  the  schools  and  seeing  all  the  pupils,  a  growiiig^ 
nuinl)er  of  whom  are  becoming  regular  depositors,  thus  inculcating  fixed 
habits  of  saving  and  business,  in  a  manner  never  to  be  eradicated  dur- 
ing life,  and  which  will  be  of  great  value  to  the  pupils  when  they  have 
grown  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  The  schools  have  regular  de- 
posit days,  and  1,500  children  have  opened  accounts  and  deposited  the 
large  sum  of  |8,000,  of  which  about  §4,000  stands  to  their  credit  at 
this  date.  This  feature  of  banking  has  the  hearty  approval  of  leading 
educators  and  the  progressive  public. 

The  officers  of  the  bank  are:  J.  G.  Southwick,  President;  Rev.  E. 
M.  Lewis,  Vice  President;  L.  C.  Humphrey,  Cashier;  W.  E.  Tay- 
lor, Assistant  Cashier.  Directors. —  C.  C.  White,  Merchaut  Miller, 
Crete,  Neb.;  J.  G.  Southwick,  Banker,  Bennett,  Xeb.;  James  Kil- 
burn.  Capitalist,  Lincoln;  J.  L.  Miles,  Banker,  Omaha;  George  E. 
Bigelow,  Real  Estate  Broker,  Lincoln ;  D.  L.  Brace,  Real  Estate 
Broker,  Lincoln;  L.  G.  M.  Baldwin,  President  Baldwin  Investment 
Company,  Lincoln;  C.  T.  Brown,  Grain  Dealer,  Lincoln;  L.  C.  Hum- 
plirey. 

The  Capital  National  Bank,  located  on  the  southeast  corner  of  O  and 
Eleventh  streets,  is  one  of  the  most  carefully-managed  and  successful 
banks  in  the  city.  It  has  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000.  Of  this  bank 
C.  W.  Mosher  is  President;  H.  J.  Walsh,  Vice  President ;  R.  C.  Out- 
calt.  Cashier;  and  J.  W.  Maxwell,  Assistant  Cashier. 

The  American  Exchange  Bank  was  incorporated  on  December  1, 
1888,  and  began  business  at  the  southeast  corner  of  N  and  Eleventh 
streets,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  It  is  a  carefully-managed 
institution  and  transacts  a  general  banking  business.  Its  officers  are: 
I.  M.  Raymond,  President;  Lewis  Gregory,  Vice  President;  S.  H. 
Burnham,  Cashier;  and  D.  E.  Wing,  Assistant  Cashier. 

Tiie  Lincohi  Savings  Bank  Safe  and  Deposit  Company  was  estab- 
lished on  January  1,  1881),  at  the  southeast  corner  of  P  and  Eleventh 
streetSjWith  a  capital  of  §250,000.  Its  specialty  is  the  safe-deposit  vault, 
built  of  twenty-seven  tons  of  steel,  containing  1,000  safes  for  custom- 
ers. This  vault  is  both  fire  and  burglar  proof,  and  is  the  only  one 
of  its  kind  in  tiie  city.  The  officers  of  this  bank  are:  Henry  E.  Lewis^ 
President  and  Manager;  A.  P.  S.  Stewart,  Vice  President;  John  H. 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 


319 


McClay,  Treasurer;  and  R.  Welch,  Teller.  Tiie  Directors  are:  A. 
P.  S.  Stewart,  H.  J.  Walsh,  Henry  E.  Lewis,  John  Vy.  Wright,  W. 
H.  McCreery,  Fred  Williams,  H.  P.  Lau,  Wni.  McLaughlin,  and 
John  H.  McCleary. 

A  solid  and  well-conducted  institution  of  the  city  is  the  Lincoln 
National  Bank,  located  in  the  Richards  Block,  on  the  northeast  corner 


THE   KICHARPS   BLOCK. 


of  Eleventh  and  O  streets.  It  transacts  all  forms  of  a  banking  busi- 
ness, and  its  prosperity  grows  steadily  from  year  to  year.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  August  of  1882.  Its  present  capital  is  $100,000,  and  its 
surplus  is  $35,000.  Its  officers  now  are :  Nathan  S.  Harwood,  Presi- 
dent ;  R.  E.  Moore,  Vice  President;  (\  T,  Boggs,  Cashier;  and  Frank 
M.  Cook,  Assistant  Cashier. 


320  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

The  Union  Savings  Bank,  at  111  South  Tenth  street,  was  incorpo- 
rated under  the  hnvs  of  the  State  April  26,  1886,  and  has  been  very 
successful.  Its  capital  stock  is  ,$200,000,  and  the  liabilities  of  the 
stockholders  are  $400,000.  Its  deposits  amount  to  $180,000.  Its 
officers  are :  R.  E.  INIoore,  President ;  E,  E.  Brown,  Vice  President ; 
C.  H.  Imhoff,  Cashier;  and  the  Board  of  Directors — John  Fitzger- 
ald, C.  E.  Yates,  R.  E.  Moore,  E.  E.  Brown,  T.  E.  Calvert,  J.  J.  Im- 
hoU;  John  R.  (/lark,  K.  K.  Hayden,  and  J.  McConniff. 

( )ne  of  the  oldest  existing  financial  institutions  in  Lincoln  is  the 
Lancaster  County  Bank,  located  at  117  South  Tenth  street.  It  was 
organized  about  nineteen  years  ago,  now  enjoys  a  large  business,  and 
is  in  a  sound  condition,  its  capital  being  |50,000  and  its  surplus  |17,- 
000.  Its  present  officers  are:  AV.  J.  Lamb,  President;  W.  A.  Green, 
Vice  President ;  and  E.  B.  Green,  Cashier. 

A  prominent  financial  institution  of  Lincoln  is  the  German  Na- 
tional Bank,  located  in  the  Burr  Block,  at  Twelfth  and  O  streets.  It 
was  established  on  December  10,  1886,  and  has  steadily  grown  in 
public  favor.  It  has  a  paid-in  capital  of  $100,000,  and  a  surplus  of 
$20,000,  and  transacts  a  general  banking  business,  making  a  specialty 
of  foreign  collections.  Its  officers  are :  Herman  H.  Schaberg,  Presi- 
dent; C.  C.  Munson,  Vice  President;  Joseph  Boehmer,  Cashier;  and 
O.  J.  Wilcox,  Assistant  Cashier.  The  Directors  are :  Messrs.  Herman 
H.  Schaberg,  C.  C.  Munson,  Joseph  Boehmer,  C.  E.  Montgomery, 
Alex.  Halter,  F.  A.  Boehmer,  B.  J.  Brotherton,  Walter  J.  Harris, 
and  J.  A.  Hudelson. 

The  Lincoln  Loan  and  Trust  Company  is  located  in  the  basemen:j 
of  the  Richards  Block.  It  was  organized  in  1884,  and  is  officered  as 
follows:  N.  S.  Harwood,  President;  W.  (i.  Houtz,  Vice  President; 
C  T.  Boggs,  Treasurer;  and  Jose})h  Kelly,  Manager.  The  Directors 
are:  J.  E.  Houtz,  John  H.  Ames,  and  AV\  R.  Kelly. 

•  The  Capital  J^oan  and  Investment  Company  is  located  on  the  sixth 
floor  of  the  Burr  Block.  It  was  organized  May  1,  1889,  makes  a 
specialty  of  building  loans,  and  has  a  growing  business.  It  has  a 
corps  of  officers  as  follows:  J.  T.  Englehardt,  President;  W.  W.  A\'. 
Jones,  Vice  President;  A.  J.  Millikin,  Treasurer;  H.  F.  Albers,  Sec- 
retary; and  S.  B.  Pound,  Attorney, 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  321 

The  Baldwin  luvestraent  Company,  at  lOG  South  Thirteenth  street, 
IS  a  new  and  popular  financial  concern,  incorporated  on  June  1,  18S9. 
It  was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  buying  and  selling  commercial 
paper  and  other  negotiable  securities,  including  real  estate  mortgages. 
It  has  an  authorized  capital  of  |100,000,  and  a  paid-in  caj^ital  of  $50,- 
OOO.  Its  business  is  conducted  with  great  prudence,  the  management 
having  adopted  the  plan  of  loaning  only  on  "two-name"  paper,  run- 
ning not  longer  than  eight  months.  In  all  cases  they  require  written 
statements  as  to  financial  condition  from  the  makers  of  paper,  who 
must  also  have  good  commercial  rating  and  a  reputation  for  prompt 
paying.  This  plan  carried  out  will  insure  to  the  company  first-class 
securities  to  offer  to  its  Eastern  correspondents.  The  Board  of  Direct- 
ors, who  pass  upon  all  loans,  have  had  years  of  experience  in  loaning 
in  Lincoln,  and  are  competent  judges  as  to  the  quality  of  paper  of- 
fered. Its  real  estate  loans  are  all  made  on  not  to  exceed  forty  percent 
of  a  conservative  valuation,  with  insurance  policy  assigned  with  mort- 
gages, or  additional  security,  making  this  class  of  investments  per- 
fectly safe.  The  company  invests  its  own  funds  in  all  paper  offered 
for  sale  and  guarantees  payment  at  maturity.  Its  business  has  been 
very  successful  to  date,  it  being  large  and  growing  constantly.  Its 
■officers  are:  Le  Grand  M.  Baldwin,  President;  L.  C.  Humphrey, 
"Vice  President;  and  A.  H.  Humphrey,  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 

The  Security  Investment  Company  is  located  in  rooms  1,  2  and  .'), 
•on  the  second  floor  of  the  Richards  Block,  corner  of  O  and  Eleventh 
streets.  It  was  organized  February  1,  1886,  and  has  since  been  very 
prosperous,  now  having  over  $5,000,000  loaned  in  Nebraska.  It 
•also  buys  municipal  bonds.  Its  officers  are:  R.  E.  Moore,  President; 
John  Moore,  Vice  President;  T.  W.  Moore,  Secretary  and  Treas- 
urer.    Its  capital  is  $100,000. 

The  Clark  &  Leonard  Investment  Company,  with  offices  in  the 
First  National  Bank  building,  at  Tenth  and  O  streets,  was  organ- 
ized October  1,  1886,  and  is  one  of  the  excellent  institutions  of  the 
'kind  in  Lincoln.  It  does  a  large  business  in  mortgage  loans,  bonds, 
and  other  securities,  having  a  capital  of  $200,000.  Its  officers  are : 
Wm.  M.  Clark,  President;  J.  W.  McPonald,  Secretary;  and  Wm. 
jM.  Leonard,  Treasurer. 


322  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

One  of  the  most  prosperous  financial  institutions  in  the  city,  prob- 
ably because  one  of  the  most  carefully  managed,  is  the  Farmers  & 
^Merchants  Insurance  Company.  As  its  name  indicates  its  risks  are 
mainly  confined  to  the  property  of  prudent  merchants  and  good  farm- 
ers, and  for  that  reason  its  financial  condition  continues  to  improve 
from  year  to  year. 

It  was  organized  on  July  2,  1885.  According  to  law  it  made  to 
the  Auditor  of  State  its  first  annual  statement  on  December  31,  1885,. 
as  follows: 

ASSETS. 

First  mortgage  loans  and  accrued  interest §19,506.54 

Bills  receivable  and  accrued  interest 13,558.41 

Office  Furniture  and  all  other  property 777.98 

Cash  in  bank  and  company's  office 23,488.54 

Cash  premiums  in  course  of  collection 1,028.35 

Stockholders'  secured  notes 50,000.00 

Total 1108,359.82. 

LIABILITIES. 

Stock $100,000.00' 

Reserve  for  reinsurance,  per  law 7,604.14 

Liabilities 641.25 

Net  Surplus 114  43 

$108,359.82- 

The  business  of  the  Company  steadily  progressed,  and  in  a  manner 
mo.st  favorable  to  the  success  of  the  management  of  the  company's 
aflPairs,  as  the  exhibit  of  its  condition  reported  to  the  State  Auditor^ 
under  oath,  on  December  31,  1888,  will  show,  when  compared  witli 
the  like  .statement  of  December  31,  1885: 

A.SSETS. 

First  mortgage  loans  and  accrued  interest $65,263.90' 

Premium  bills  received  and  accrued  interest 77,354.82 

Bills  received  and  interest  secured  by  chattel  mortgages 1,905.04 

Cash  in  bank  and  company's  office 24,133.63- 

Ca.sh  premiums  in  course  of  collection 9,405.61 

Office  furniture  and  other  property 1,279.06 

Stockholder's  secured  notes 50,000.0(y 

Total ..$229,342.0& 


BANKS    AND    FINANCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  323 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock $10o,0uu.0(> 

Reserve  for  reiusurance  required  b}-  law 97  816.15 

Liabilities 1,K16,15 

Surplus 29,6"'4.52 

Total $229,342.06 

Or  recapitulating  the  statements  of  tiie  four  years,  wc  have  the  fol- 
lowing very  flattering  exhibit : 

Premiums  Received.  Losses. 

1885 $21,903.47  $704.84 

1886 76,001.25  6,740.85 

1887 95,97268  16,183.75 

1888 108,1.53.98  20,068.25 

Totals $302,031.38  $43,697. 6{> 

Another  feature  of  peculiar  merit  connected  with  this  company's 
business  policy  is  that  it  discards  the  technical  delays  in  paying  lo.>^ses, 
which  are  so  aggravating  and  injurious.  It  has  paid  losses  within 
twenty-four  hours  after  the  fires  occurred,  and  seldom  allows  a  delay 
of  over  three  or  four  days  in  paying  a  loss.  Thi.s  reform  has  won 
it  much  popular  favor. 

The  officers  for  the  present  year  are:    D.  E.  Thompson,  President; 
H.  J.  Walsh,  Vice  President;   S.  J.  Alexander,  Secretary;  C  W 
Mosher,  Treasurer. 

Dun's  Commercial  Agency  is  represented  by  a  local  office  in  the 
First  National  Bank  block,  by  Frank  D.  Blish.  This  office  was  es- 
tablished in  1882,  and  is  one  of  the  best  conducted  institutions  of  the 
city. 

An  office  of  Bradstreet's  Commercial  Agency  was  opened  in  the 
State  National  Bank  building  during  the  present  year,  of  which  II. 
C.  Patterson  is  the  accommodatino-  manager. 


324  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  Press  of  Lincoln  — As  in  Other  Things,  so  in  Newspapers,  Does 
Lincoln  Stand  at  the  Front  — The  Papers  That  Have  Been  and 
are  and  the  ]Men  Who  Publish  Them. 

I^incoln  has  been  fortunate  in  many  particulars,  and  among  others 
in  having  good  newspapers.  A  good  newspaper  is  a  standing  adver- 
tisement to  the  outside  world  that  a  good  town  is  behind  it,  and  this 
has  been  the  only  advertisement  that  Lincoln  has  ever  had. 

On  the  14th  of  August,  1867,  the  Commissioners  for  the  location  ot 
the  seat  of  government  for  the  State  of  Nebraska,  selected  and  offi- 
cially announced  Lincoln,  up  to  that  time  the  town  of  "Lancaster," 
as  the  place.  On  the  following  day  there  appeared  in  the  columns  of 
the  Nebraska  City  Press  a  prospectus  for  the  publication  of  a  weekly 
newspaper  at  Lincoln,  to  be  called  the  Nebraska  Commonwealth,  over 
the  signature  of  C.  H.  Gere.  On  the  7th  day  of  September,  the  first 
<;opy  of  the  new  paper  Avas  printed  at  the  office  of  the  Press,  there 
being  at  that  time  no  accommodations  for  a  newspaper  office  at  the 
new  capital.     "C.  H.  Gere  &  Co."  were  the  announced  publishers. 

On  November  2d,  the  second  number  of  the  Commonwealth  was 
issued  at  Lincoln,  printed  in  the  office  of  Hon.  S.  B.  Galey,  a  stone 
building  on  the  north  side  of  the  Government  square,  W.  W.  Carder, 
publisher,  and  C.  H.  Gere,  editor.  It  was  a  seven-column  sheet,  of 
dingy  appearance,  the  type  being  some  old  primer  and  nonpareil  taken 
from  the  used-up  material  of  the  Nebraska  City  Press;  the  press  used 
being  the  first  *'  Washington"  ever  brought  across  the  Missouri  river 
into  Nebraska  territory. 

Before  the  third  number  was  issued  (and  it  came  out  two  weeks 
later)  the  Commomoealih  had  moved  into  an  office  of  its  own,  a  stone 
building  of  small  dimensions  on  the  corner  lot  of  the  Academy  of 
Music  block,  which  was  torn  down  several  years  ago  to  make  way  for 
improvements.  The  issues  thereafter  were  regular,  except  when  some 
accident  of  transportation  prevented  the  arrival  of  printing  paper  in 
time  for  the  press. 


THE    PRESS    OF   LINCOLN.  325 

In  the  May  following,  Mr,  Gere,  who  had  edited  the  paper  from 
Omaha,  removed  permanently  to  Lincoln,  and  became  associated  with 
Mr.  Carder  in  the  business  management  of  the  paper,  and  the  ofhee 
was  soon  after  removed  to  more  roomy  quarters  over  Jas.  Sweet  & 
Brock's  bank,  in  the  corner  of  what  is  now  termed  "Ujiion  block." 
In  the  spring  of '69,  the  [name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  the  Ne- 
braska State  Journal. 

In  November  of  that  year  Mr,  Carder  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  J.  Q. 
Brownlee,  and  shortly  after  the  office,  still  in  search  of  more  room, 
was  taken  across  O  street,  and  occupied  the  second  floor  of  the  frame 
building  second  door  east  of  the  State  block. 

On  the  20th  day  of  July,  1870,  the  day  on  which  the  ]>urlington 
&  Missouri  River  Railroad  ran  its  first  train  into  Lincoln,  and  struck 
death  to  the  stage  line  that  had  been  the  only  means  of  transportation 
to  the  capital  of  Nebraska,  the  Daily  State  Journal  first  saw  the  light. 

A  daily  edition  had  prior  to  this  time  been  worked  off  on  the  liand 
press,  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  in  the  winter  of  '(ill  and 
'70,  but  it  contained  little  more  than  the  summary  of  legislative  ]>ro- 
ceedings,  and  some  local  items. 

A  new  Taylor  cylinder  press  had  been  added  to  the  Journal  ma- 
chinery, and  after  a  dozen  years  of  continual  faithful  service,  it  gave 
way  to  the  largest  size,  two-revolution,  Cottrell  press,  with  all  mod- 
ern improvements,  including  folder. 

Still  crowded  for  room,  owing  to  its  rapid  growth,  the  Journal 
office  in  the  spring  of  '71  returned  to  the  State  block,  took  possession 
of  the  rooms  over  Rudolph's  grocery  house,  that  had  just  been  ex- 
tended fifty  feet  in  the  rear,  making  its  quarters  25x100,  and  amply 
sufficient  for  its  accommodation.  Shortly  after,  Mr.  Brownlee  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  to  Hon.  H.  1).  Hathaway,  of  the  Plattsmouth 
Herald,  taking  an  interest  in  the  Herald  as  part  payment,  and  the 
firm  name  became  Gere  &  Hathaway. 

In  the  fall  of  1872  a  separation  was  made  between  the  newspaper 
and  the  job  business,  and  tlie  State  Journal  Company  was  organized, 
the  members  being  Messrs.  Gere  &  Hathaway,  and  Messrs.  A.  H. 
Mendenhall  and  Geo.  W,  Roberts,  of  Peoria,  111.,  Mr.  Mendenhall 
having  long  been  the  foreman  of  the  Transcript  office,  and  the  latter, 
the  proprietor  of  a  bindery  and  blank  book  establishment  in  that  city. 

A  large  addition  of  material  and  machinery  for  book  and  job  print- 


326 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


ing,  biuderv,  and  blank  book  making,  was  made  to  the  old  job  de- 
partment of  the  Journal,  and  again  more  room  had  to  be  obtained. 
The  second  stories  of  the  fiv'e  buildings,  known  as  Commercial  block, 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  Government  square,  were  connected  by  a 
common  hall,  and  after  some  alterations,  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
upper  half  of  the  block  was  taken,  part  for  the  State  Journal  com- 
pany, and  part  for  the  newspaper,  still  owned  and  published  by  Gere 
■&  Hathawav. 


STATE   JOUKNAL   BUILDING 


In  1887,  Mr.  Roberts  having  sold  his  interest  in  the  Journal 
company  to  Mr.  John  R.  Clark,  and  it  having  been  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  the  State,  Messrs.  Gere  &  Hathaway  transferred  the  news- 
paper to  the  company. 

The  officers  of  the  com[)any  are:  C.  H.  Gere,  President;  A.  H. 
Mendenhall,  Vice  President;  .John  R.  Clark,  Secretary,  and  H.  D. 
Hathaway,  Treasurer. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1882,  found  the  State  Journal  company 
in  the  occupancy  of  their  handsome  and  spacious  new  building,  sit- 
uated upon  the  corner  of  P  and  Ninth  streets.     This  building  is  a 


THE    PRESS    OF    LINCOLN.  327 

•substantial  stone  and  brick  structure,  three  stories  and  basement,  with 
a  frontage  of  75  feet  on  P  street,  and  142  feet  on  Ninth  street.  The 
aground  was  broken  in  June,  1880,  and  the  various  departments  ready 
for  occupancy  the  first  of  December,  1881. 

Prior  to  this  last  removal  into  its  own  quarters,  the  comj>anv  liad 
added  a  small  line  of  stationery  for  its  jobbing  trade.  This  depart- 
ment has  reached  such  proportions  that  it  now  occupies  one-third  of 
the  building  —  the  part  that  was  for  a  time  rented.  Its  mechanical 
and  artistic  departments  have  also  grown  in  the  same  proportions.  A 
dozen  steam  presses  are  used  for  its  job  and  book  work.  Its  bindery 
is  the  largest  and  completest  in  the  west. 

To  its  thoroughly  equipped  electrotyping  and  stereotyping  depart- 
ment, it  has  added  a  very  complete  engraving  and  lithographing  es- 
tablishment, which  is  employed  to  its  full  capacity  in  furnishing 
Nebraska  work  to  Nebraskans.  The  two-revolution  Cottrell  press  has 
been  sent  to  the  job-rooms,  and  the  Journal  has  for  some  time  been 
printed  on  a  Hoe  perfecting  press,  with  a  capacity  of  10,000  double 
sheets  per  hour,  delivered  folded  to  the  hands  of  the  mailers  and  news- 
boys. 

The  volume  of  the  business  of  the  Journal  Company,  in  all  its  de- 
partments, reached,  in  1882,  the  first  year  of  its  occupancy  of  its  own 
building,  $130,000.  For  the  fiscal  year  ending  July  15,  1889,  it 
-amounted  to  $288,306.31.  It  paid  for  labor  during  those  twelve 
months  an  aggregate  of  $105,176.53,  a  fraction  over  |2,000  per  week. 
Its  freight  bills  for  the  year  amounted  to  $7,318,79. 

The  history  of  the  democratic  press  of  Lincoln  is  a  varied  one. 
Democratic  newspapers  have  had  a  precarious  existence,  and  have 
changed  names  and  owners  frequently.  In  1867  the  Nebraska  States- 
man was  founded  by  Augustus  Harvey  as  a  weekly.  It  was  sold 
wnthin  eighteen  months  to  Randall  &  Smails,  who  changed  it  from  a 
weekly  to  an  evening  daily.  Owing  to  Randall's  mismanagement,  the 
■concern  broke  financially,  and  the  material  went  into  the  Fremont 
Tribune  office.  About  1878  General  Yifquain  founded  the  State  Dem- 
ocrat, which  also  changed  hands  frequently.  Among  the  prominent 
Democrats  who  liave  had  control  of  the  paper  may  be  mentioned  Hon. 
Albert  Watkins,  Hon.  A.  J.  Sawyer,  and  Hon.  J.  W.  Barnhart. 
Changes  continued  to  occur  until  August  1,  1886,  when  the  property 


328  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

passed  into  the  hands  of  J.  D.  Calhoun,  who  successfully  conducted 
the  paper  for  twenty-three  months.  On  July  1,  1888,  Mr.  Calhouo 
sold  out  to  the  ^^Call  Publishing  Company,"  which  changed  its  poli- 
tics. In  the  following  August,  Messrs.  J.  A.  Emmons  and  Sol. 
Oppenheimer  purchased  an  outfit  and  established  the  Weekly  State 
Dnnoerat,  which  is  yet  in  publication  and  enjoys  a  good  circulation 
and  fair  patronage.  Mr.  Oppenheimer  soon  sold  his  interest  to  Capt. 
Emmons,  who  is  now  the  editor,  the  publishers  being  the  Democrat 
Publishing  Company.  The  Deinocrat  is  ably  edited,  and  is  earnest  in 
its  support  of  party  principles  and  in  pushing  Lincoln  to  the  front. 

On  July  1,  1888,  was  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Lincoln  Daily 
Call,  as  an  evening  paper,  by  the  "  Call  Publishing  Company."  Of 
this  company  H.  M.  Bushnell  is  President,  Sam  D.  Cox  Secretary, 
Treasurer,  and  Business  Manager,  and  Al.  Fairbrother,  Managing- 
Editor.  Under  the  management  of  these  three  gentlemen  the  CalC 
has  grown  rapidly  in  circulation  and  influence.  It  is  Republican  in 
politics,  although  free  to  criticise  where  criticism  is  thought  to  be 
needed. 

Few  business  enterprises  of  the  city  have  grown  more  rapidly  than 
the  Lincoln  News  plant.  Beginning  as  a  very  small  job  office,  in 
1880,  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Hyde,  it  has  now  expanded  into  a  large  printing 
house,  infrluding  an  excellent  book  bindery,  facilities  for  stereotyping, 
and  two  newspaper  and  a  number  of  job  presses.  The  Daily  News 
was  first  published  on  the  26th  of  October,  1881,  as  a  four  column 
folio,  the  day  of  President  (jarfield's  funeral,  by  Mr.  T.  H.  Hyde, 
who  actively  joined  his  son,  E.  B.  Hyde,  in  the  business  at  that  time, 
and  has  been  the  main  factor  in  the  enterprise  ever  since.  The  paper 
was  started  to  contribute  to  the  business  interests  of  the  job  depart- 
ment. The  winter  of  1881-2  was  one  of  commercial  activity,  and  the 
News  prospered,  so  that  early  in  the  spring  of  1882  the  daily  was  en- 
larged to  a  five-column  folio,  and  advanced  to  a  six-column  folio  late 
in  the  fall  of  that  year.  The  News  continued  to  grow,  and  in  1885 
Mr.  Walter  Hoge  became  interested  in  the  business,  and  the  firm  became 
Hyde,  Hoge  &  Hyde.  The  pressure  of  patronage  required  another  en- 
largement of  the  News  in  1887,  when  it  became  a  seven-column  folio. 
About  the  first  of  the  year  1888  a  stock  company  was  formed  called 


THE    PRESS    OF    LINCOLN.  329 

the  "Lincoln  Neios  Company,"  and  it  so  continues  to  the  present 
time,  with  Messrs.  Thomas  H.  Hyde  and  E.  B.  Hyde  as  the  leading 
stockholders.  The  daily  was  again  enlarged  in  the  fall  of  1888  to  an 
eight-column  folio.  Mr.  Hoge  retired  from  the  company  during  the 
summer  of  1888.  Mr.  Harry  Dobbins  became  connected  with  the  edi- 
torial department  in  1888,  and  he  and  Mr.  T.  H.  Hyde  do  the  main 
editorial  work,  Mr.  Hyde  being  managing  editor.  Mr.  E.  B.  Hyde 
is  manager  of  the  mechanical  and  business  departments. 

The  News  Company  now  occupies  three  floors  of  the  brick  building 
at  121-3  North  Tenth  street.  The  daily  is  steadily  increasing  its  cir- 
culation and  business,  and  the  weekly  News  has  a  large  circulation 
among  the  people  of  the  county.  Altogether  the  Neivs  establishment 
is  the  largest  printing  house,  except  that  of  the  Journal,  in  the  South 
Platte  section  of  Nebraska. 

The  first  German  newspaper  published  jin  the  city  of  Lincoln  was 
called  the  Staats-Zeitung,  and  was  owned  and  edited  by  Dr.  F.  Renner, 
now  of  Nebraska  City.  The  doctor,  a  well  educated  man  and  strong  Re- 
publican, started  the  Staats-Zeitung  in  1871,  and  made  a  strong  fight 
for  General  (rrant's  reelection  in  1872.  The  Staats-Zeitung  was  after- 
ward moved  to  Nebraska  City,  where  it  is  now  published  by  Mr. 
Bentler. 

The  Germans  of  the  city  of  Lincoln,  feeling  the  necessity  of  having 
an  organ  in  their  own  language,  contributed,  in  the  year  1880,  a  large 
sum  of  money,  and  guaranteed  a  good  patronage,  to  Peter  Karberg, 
who  was  known  as  an  old  and  experienced  newspaper  man  in  Du- 
buque. He  moved  to  Lincoln  in  the  month  of  May,  1880,  and  pub- 
h'shed  the  first  number  of  his  Nebixisha  Staats-Anzeiger  on  June  1st, 
1880.  Karberg's  experience  and  energy  soon  made  the  Staats-Anzeiger 
one  of  the  best  and  most  influential  German  papers  in  the  State.  The 
early  death  of  Mr.  Karberg,  on  July  2,  1884,  made  the  sale  of  his 
paper  necessary,  and  Mr.  Henry  Briigmann  became  the  successor  of 
Mr.  Karberg.  Financial  troubles  caused  the  foreclosure  and  sale  of 
the  Staats-Anzeiger  in  October,  1887.  The  creditors  bought  the  ma- 
terial, and  after  disposing  of  the  job  department  formerly  connected 
with  the  paper,  sold  it  to  Schaal  &  Esser,  who  now  continue  its  pub- 
lication. The  Anzeiger  was  a  strong  advocate  of  Republican  princi- 
ples under  its  first  two  proprietors,  who  themselves  were  strong  party 
22 


330  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

men.     The  present  publishers  are  Democrats,  and  the  paper  lias  no 
avowed  policy. 

The  Lincoln  Freie  Presse  is  the  youngest,  but  the  most  successful, 
German  paper,  not  only  in  the  city  of  Lincoln,  but  in  the  whole  State 
of  Nebraska.  Its  publisher  and  editor.  Major  J.  D.  Kluetsch,  is  one 
of  the  best-known  Germans  of  our  State.  Being  one  of  the  oldest  citi- 
zens of  our  city,  Mr.  Kluetsch  knows  the  wants  of  our  German  popu- 
lation, and  publishes  just  such  a  paper  as  is  demanded  and  needed. 
The  Lincoln  Freie  Presse,  a  seven-column,  eight  page  weekly,  was 
first  published  on  September  1st,  1884,  by  G.  Z.  Bluedhorn,  who  sold 
it  on  February  15,  1886,  to  its  present  owner,  Mr.  J.  D.  Kluetsch. 
It  has  now  the  largest  circulation  of  any  German  paper  in  the  State. 
Its  circulation  is  unlimited  among  the  German  residents  of  this  and 
adjoining  States,  and  it  accordingly  enjoys  a  very  large  advertising 
patronage.  Independent  in  politics,  tolerant  in  religious  matters,  and 
fearless,  though  true,  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  our  city 
and  State,  the  Freie  Presse  has  done  more  than  any  other  German 
paper  to  build  up  the  State  of  Nebraska  and  city  of  Lincoln.  The 
history  of  Lincoln,  written  by  the  Freie  Presse  in  the  German  lan- 
guage, in  a  series  of  twenty-eight  able  articles,  has  advertised  our  city 
all  over  the  United  States,  and  also  abroad,  and  Mr,  Kluetsch  and  his 
paper  have  been  highly  commended  for  the  enterprise  shown  by  these 
articles.  John  D.  Kluetsch,  editor  and  publisher  of  this  paper,  was 
born  on  the  22d  day  of  March,  1833,  in  a  town  called  Uelmen,  near 
Coblentz,  on  the  river  Khine,  in  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  After  pass- 
ing the  primary  schools  of  his  town,  he  studied  at  the  gymnasiums  at 
Recklinghausen,  in  Westphalia,  and  at  Coblentz  and  Trier,  in  the 
province  of  Rhenish  Prussia.  The  gymnasium  at  Trier,  (no  doubt 
the  oldest  city  in  Western  Europe,  and  at  one  time  the  residence  of 
Constautinc  the  Great,)  was  always  considered  one  of  the  best  schools 
in  (jccrmany.  After  graduating,  Mr.  Kluetsch  visited  the  University 
of  Bonn,  and  the  Academy  of  Forestry  at  Eisenach,  the  city  in  which 
Martin  Luther  was  held  as  a  prisoner,  and  where  he  translated  the 
Bible.  Having  finished  his  studies,  Mr.  Kluetsch  entered  the  Prussian 
Army  as  a  one  year  volunteer  in  the  Eighth  Prussian  Sharpshooters' 
Battallion,  at  Wetzlar,  near  Giessen,  the  well-known  German  university. 
After  this  we  find  Mr.  Kluetsch  at  the  city  of  Cologne,  where  he  re_ 


THE    PRESS    OF    LINCOLN.  331 

mained  in  the  government's  employ,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
months  during  the  Franco-Austrian  war,  in  1859,  when  lie  joined 
the  Prussian  army  again,  until  he  emigrated  to  this  country,  in 
May,  18G1,  shortly  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion.  Mr. 
Kluetseh  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Eighty-second  Illinois  Volun- 
teers, and  received  many  promotions  for  his  bravery  and  good  be- 
havior. He  served  on  the  staffs  of  Generals  O.  O.  Howard  and  Carl 
Schurz,  and  took  part  in  some  of  the  hardest-fought  battles  of  our 
last  war;  for  instance,  Fredericksburg,  Chaneellorsvillc,  Gettysburg, 
Mission  Ridge,  and  Lookout  Mountain.  After  leaving  the  armv 
Mr.  Kluetseh  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  held  a  number  of  positions 
in  the  postal  service,  and  in  the  recorder's  office  as  map  clerk.  He 
was  elected  collector  of  taxes  for  West  Chicago  in  1870,  and  reelected 
in  1871,  and  moved  to  Lincoln  on  the  1st  of  May,  1872.  Here  he 
followed  several  vocations,  until  the  15th  day  of  February,  1886 
when  he  purchased  the  Lincoln  Freie  Presse,  of  which  paper  he  is  the 
sole  owner. 

The  Uausbesuchei'  (Home  Visitor)  is  another  German  paper  pub- 
lished in  this  city  by  Rev.  Chr.  Bruegger,  pastor  of  the  German 
Methodist  Church,  corner  of  Fifteenth  and  M  streets,  under  the  au- 
spices of  this  church.  It  was  founded  by  Rev.  Karl  Harris,  the  for- 
mer pastor,  on  June  1,  1881.  Its  circulation  is  largely  among  the 
members  of  the  above  church,  and  reaches  about  300  copies. 

The  Capital  City  Courier  was  started  with  an  office  desk,  but  now 
has  one  of  the  finest  and  most  complete  newspaper  and  job  printing 
establishments  in  the  State.  The  Courier  was  established  by  its  present 
proprietor,  Mr.  L.  Wessel  jr.,  December  9,  1885.  By  successive  en- 
largements the  Courier  grew  from  a  four  to  a  six-column  folio.  At 
the  end  of  six  months  it  blossomed  out  as  a  full-fledged  newspaper, 
and  charged  a  subscription  price.  For  the  State  Fair,  of  1887,  the 
proprietor  published  an  edition  of  10^000  copies,  each  eight  pages  of 
six  columns,  and  the  paper  has  continued  that  size  ever  since.  It  is 
one  of  that  class  of  journals  known  in  the  West  as  "society  papers," 
but  it  also  has  full  and  carefully  edited  departments  devoted  to  the 
drama,  literature,  sport,  fashions,  humor,  music,  religion,  woman, 
home  architecture,  and  correspondence,  besides  chatty  conmients  on 
politics  and  other  current  events. 


332  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

In  connection  M"ith  the  paper  a  department  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  artistic  in  printing  and  publishing  is  maintained.  The  offices  are 
on  Twelfth  street,  in  the  new  Burr  block,  where  two  store-rooms  are 
occupied,  one  for  the  Courier  and  business  department  and  the  other 
for  the  composing  and  press-rooms.  ' 

Believing  that  there  was  an  opening  in  the  city  for  a  first-class  dis- 
tinctive Sunday  morning  paper,  the  Sunday  Morning  Globe  was 
brought  into  existence,  in  April,  1889,  the  publishers  and  editors  be- 
ing W.  L,  Hunter,  late  of  Illinois,  and  J.  C.  Seacrest,  who  had  been 
for  two  years  identified  with  the  newspaper  business  of  the  city.  The 
Globe  is  an  eight-page,  six-column  paper,  independent  in  politics,  and 
devoted  especially  to  the  interests  of  society,  secret  fraternities,  sports, 
and  city  events  touching  the  interests  of  the  masses.  It  aims  to  be  a 
people's  paper.  The  business  is  done  in  the  name  of  the  Globe  Pub- 
lishing Company.  The  office  of  the  company  is  located  in  the  Wind- 
sor block.     The  daily  Globe  was  started  September  28,  1889. 

The  first  agricultural  paper  published  in  I^incoln,  the  Nebrasha 
Farmer,  was  established  in  1872,  by  General  J.  C.  McBride  and  J.  C. 
C.'larkson,  now  of  Chicago.  At  the  time  this  publication  was  estab- 
lished, the  farming  and  live-stock  interests  of  Nebraska  amounted  to 
very  little;  they  were  too  young  to  support  a  paper  published  in  their 
interest.  But  the  main  reason  for  the  establishment  of  the  paper 
was  to  promote,  by  its  influence,  the  success  of  certain  land  deals  in 
the  State  in  connection  with  a  railway  project  of  that  early  day.  In 
1880,  however,  the  farming  and  live-stock  interests  of  the  State  had 
grown  to  larger  proportions,  making  the  field  of  an  agricultural  paper 
broader  and  more  lucrative.  In  that  year  General  McBride  pur- 
chased his  partner's  interest  in  the  journal  and  conducted  it  alone  for 
some  time,  when  he  sold  an  interest  in  the  paper  to  O.  M.  Druse. 
Soon  after  this  transaction  General  McBride  was  appointed  post- 
master, and  the  entire  paper  became  the  property  of  Mr.  Druse.  At 
this  time  the  Farmer  was  a  monthly  publication.  In  January,  1887, 
L.  L.  Siler,  of  Lawrence,  Kas.,  and  H.  E.  Heath,  of  Kansas  City, 
purchased  the  paper  of  Mr.  Druse,  who  had  been  running  it  for  some 
time  as  a  semi-monthly. 

The  new  firm  soon  changed  it  to  a  weekly  publication.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1888,  Mr.  Siler  sold  his  three-fifths  interest  to  his  partner,  H. 


THE    PRESS    OF    LI^X"OLN.  333 

E.  Heath,  who  in  the  following  spring  took  his  brother,  H.  A. 
Heatli,  a  practical  farmer  from  Western  Nebraska,  into  partnership, 
since  which  time  the  firm  has  remained  nnchanged.  The  Nebraska 
Farmer  is  recognized  as  the  leading  farm  journal  published  in  the 
West.  It  is  ably  edited,  and  has  a  large  force  of  contributors  and 
correspondents,  made  up  of  men  who  have  practical  knowledge  ot 
the  things  about  which  they  write.  It  has  an  extensive  circulation 
through  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Colorado,  and  other  Western  States. 

In  the  fall  of  1886,  Colonel  H.  S.  Reed  and  Ex-Governor  Robert 
W.  Furnas  established  a  monthly  journal  called  Western  Resources, 
the  first  number  of  which  was  issued  in  January,  1887.  In  the  fall  ot 
!1887  Colonel  Reed  purchased  the  interest  of  Governor  Furnas,  and 
continued  to  conduct  the  paper  as  a  monthly  until  January  1,  1889, 
when  the  form  of  the  paper  was  changed,  as  was  also  the  time  of  pub- 
lication. It  is  now  issued  three  times  per  month,  viz:  on  the  10th, 
20th,  and  30th. 

At  the  time  Western  Resources  was  established  it  was  made  a  gen- 
eral farm  paper,  but  when  Colonel  Reed  became  sole  proprietor  he 
changed  policy  and  made  the  paper  exclusively  a  live-stock  journal, 
devoted  to  the  live-stock  interests  of  the  State.  Since  the  paper  has 
been  conducted  on  this  line  of  policy,  more  live-stock  organizations 
have  been  formed  in  the  State  than  ever  before,  for  which  Colonel 
Reed  is  mainly  responsible.  Western  Resources  is  without  a  peer  in 
its  line  in  the  West,  and  is  acknowledged  to  occupy  second  place 
among  the  live  stock  journals  of  the  entire  country.  Its  circulation 
is  about  1D,000  copies,  and  it  is  the  official  organ  of  the  following 
associations,  which  shows  that  it  is  appreciated  by  the  men  in  whose 
interest  it  is  published :  Nebraska  Draft  Horse  Breeders'  Association ; 
Trotting  Horse  Breeders'  Association;  Hereford  Breeders'  Associa- 
tion ;  Imported  Stock  Breeders'  Association,  and  the  Association  of 
Expert  Judges  of  Swine. 

The  Nebraska  State  Laborer  was  established  in  August,  1888,  by 
the  organized  workingmen  of  this  "fcity,  and  is  published  under  the 
auspices  of  their  principal  organization,  the  Central  Trades  and  Labor 
Union.  It  earnestly  champions  the  cause  of  the  workingmen,  and 
ably  advocates  all  measures  which  tend  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
the  laborino;  masses  and  elevate  them  to  a  higher  plane  of  usefulness 


334  HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF   LINCOLN. 

aiul  enjoyment.  It  lias  grown  rapidly  in  popular  favor,  and  is  exer- 
cising a  wide  influence  among  that  class  to  whose  interest  it  is  devoted. 
It  is  edited  by  B.  S.  Littlefield,  a  former  well-known  teacher  in  Lilli- 
bridge  &  Roosc's  business  college. 

There  are  at  this  time  twenty-six  periodicals  published  in  Lincoln. 
Besides  those  referred  to  at  greater  length,  may  be  mentioned,  more 
or  less  in  detail,  the  folloAving  additional  publications :  The  Nebraska 
3Iethodist,  j)ublished  at  AYesleyan  University,  in  the  interest  of  that 
institution  and  Nebraska  Methodism  generally ;  the  Hesperian  is  the 
organ  of  the  students  of  the  State  University ;  the  Proscenium  is  a 
theatrical  sheet,  issued  in  the  interests  of  Funke's  Opera  House ;  the 
Congregational  Neics,  by  Rev.  H.  A.  French,  is  a  journal  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  Congregational  Church ;  the  Lincoln  Monthly,  by 
Messrs.  Lillibridge  &  Roose,  represents  the  interests  of  the  Lincoln 
Business  College;  the  New  Republic  is  the  organ  of  the  Prohibition 
party  in  the  State,  of  which  Hon.  W.  H.  Hardy  is  now  the  editor; 
the  Western  Woi'kman,  by  Professor  F.  F.  Roose,  is  the  Western  or- 
gan of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen;  the  Lincoln  Jour- 
nal of  Commerce,  is  a  monthly  price  current,  published  in  the  interests 
of  the  city  jobbing  trade,  and  for  other  business  purposes;  the  Ne- 
braska Railway  Gazetteer,  by  Professor  F.  F.  Roose,  is  a  monthly 
periodical  devoted  to  western  railway  affairs;  the  Daily  Stock  Dealer 
is  a  daily  published  by  Mr.  Walter  Hoge  for  the  benefit  of  the  Lin- 
coln Stock  Yards,  Packing  and  Provision  Company,  and  the  stock 
dealers  of  this  vicinity  ;  the  Home  Neics  is  a  little  folio  in  the  interests 
of  the  Home  for  the  Friendless ;  the  Farmers^  Alliance  is  a  monthly^ 
designed  to  represent  the  association  of  farmers  by  that  name;  the 
Lincoln  Newspaper  Union  is  the  trade  journal  of  the  Lincoln  news- 
paper ready-print  supply  and  publishing  house,  managed  by  Mr. 
Frank  Rohm ;  this  house  also  prints  the  Nebraska  State  Capital,  a 
story  ])ap('r;  Modern  Bookkeeping,  by  Lillibridge  &  Roose,  is  pub- 
lished in  the  interests  of  accountants  and  students. 

1'he  Cherrier  Directory  Publishing  Company,  of  which  A.  B. 
Cherrier  and  N.  Hall  are  the  members,  has  for  two  years  past  pub- 
lished city  directories  which  are  better  arranged,  more  convenient  of 
reference,  and  more  complete,  than  any  directory  before  published. 


INCARCERATION    OF   THE   CITY    COUNCIL.  335 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

INCARCEKATION   OF  THE  CiTY   COUNCIL— A   MeMOEABLE  OCCURRENCE  IN   THE 

City's  History— A  Sketch  of  the  Proceedings,  and  a  Legal  His- 
tory OF  THE  Case. 

In  the  fall  of  1887,  the  Mayor  and  eleven  members  of  the  City 
Council  were  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  of  Douglas  county  for  al- 
leged contempt  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  District  of 
Nebraska.  The  following  is  a  brief  statement  of  the  facts  which  oc- 
casioned this  extraordinary  action  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Court : 

Sometime  in  the  month  of  August  certain  parties,  gamblers  in  the 
city  of  Lincoln,  preferred  charges  in  writing  with  the  Council,  against 
Albert  F.  Parsons,  Police  Judge,  alleging  that  he  had  been  guilty  of 
malfeasance  in  office,  in  that  he  had  not  accounted  for  moneys  collected 
by  him  as  fines  as  required  by  law.  These  charges  were  the  result  of 
a  warfare  made  upon  the  gambling  fraternity  of  the  city  by  the  newly- 
elected  Mayor,  A.  J.  Sawyer,  and  the  Marshal  and  police  appointed 
by  him.  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  persons  making  the 
charges,  a  committee  of  the  Council  was  appointed  to  investigate  the 
charges.  The  committee  met,  and  after  hearing  much  testimony  pro 
and  con,  reported  to  the  Council  that  in  their  opinion  the  charges  were 
true,  and  that  the  Police  Judge  had  not  paid  over  to  the  Treasui-er  all 
the  money  by  him  received,  and  recommended  that  his  office  be  de- 
clared vacant,  and  that  a  successor  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor.  The 
ordinance  then  in  force  relating  to  removal  of  city  officers  not  pro- 
viding for  trial  by  a  committee  of  less  than  the  whole  of  the  Council, 
it  was  amended,  and  the  committee's  report  again  filed. 

While  the  resolution  declaring  the  office  vacant  was  pending,  Mr. 
Parsons  appeared  with  his  attorney,  Mr.  L.  C.  Burr,  and  requested 
that  action  be  delayed  until  a  certain  day,  when  the  evidence  could  be 
read  and  counsel  heard  before  the  whole  Council,  stating  that  if  this 
was  done  they  would  be  satisfied  with  the  action  of  the  Council  in  the 
premises.     Their  request  was  acceded  to,  and  a  day  fixed  as  desired. 


336  •    HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Before  that  day  arrived,  ho^vever,  Mr.  Parsons  had  obtained  from 
Judge  Brewer,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  an  order  restraining 
the  Mayor  and  Council  from  taking  further  action  in  the  premises 
until  he  could  hear  and  determine  the  matter.  After  careful  consid- 
eration, and  after  taking  advice  of  counsel,  the  Mayor  and  Council 
became  satisfied  that  the  restraining  order  was  made  without  authority 
of  law,  and  was  of  no  binding  force  or  eifect.  They  accordingly  dis- 
regarded it,  and  proceeded  to  declare  the  office  of  Police  Judge  vacant, 
and  the  Mayor  appointed  and  the  Council  confirmed  Mr.  H.  J.  Whit- 
more  as  Police  Judge  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  action  of  the  city  officials  was  at  once  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  court,  and  an  order  entered,  requiring  the  Mayor  and  Council  to 
appear  and  show  cause  why  they  should  not  be  punished  for  contempt. 

At  the  appointed  time  the  parties  appeared  and  presented  their 
reasons  for  violating  the  injunction,  and  averred  that  the  court  was 
without  jurisdiction  to  issue  the  same,  and  that  consequently  they 
were  under  no  obligations  to  obey  it.  Judge  Brewer,  however,  held 
that  his  order  was  properly  issued,  and  adjudged  the  defendants  guilty 
of  contempt,  and  sentenced  Mayor  Sawyer,  and  Councilmen  Briscoe, 
Burks,  Cooper,  Pace,  and  Dean,  to  pay  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  each, 
and  Councilmen  Billingsley,  Graham,  Hovey,  Ensign,  Fraas,  and 
Dailey,  to  pay  a  fine  of  six  hundred  dollars  each.  One  and  all  de- 
clared their  intention  to  suffer  imprisonment  rather  than  pay  the  fine 
imposed,  and  they  were  accordingly  taken  in  charge  by  the  United 
States  Marshal,  and  confined  in  the  Douglas  county  jail. 

Their  attorney,  Hon.  G.  M.  Lambertson,  had  in  the  meantime  pre- 
pared the  proper  papers  for  an  application  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  took  the  first  train 
for  the  city  of  Washington  and  made  his  application  in  person  to  Jus- 
tice Miller.  The  writ  was  im.mediately  issued  as  prayed,  and  after  a 
week  of  imprisonment,  the  Lincoln  city  government  was  once  more 
at  liberty.  The  application  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  most 
elaborately  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  great  interest  was  man- 
ifested in  the  case  by  the  legaf  fraternity  and  public  generally.  Jan- 
uary 12,  1888,  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  announced, 
and  with  but  two  exceptions,  the  judges  united  in  declaring  the  im- 
prisonment inihiwful,  and  ordering  the  release  of  the  prisoners.  The 
legal  aspect  of  the  case  was  as  follows: 


INCARCERATION    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIT..  337 

It  was  contended  by  the  petitioners  that  the  Circuit  Court  of  the 
United  States,  sitting  as  a  court  of  equity,  had  no  jurisdiction  and  au- 
thority to  make  the  order  under  which  they  were  lield  by  the  ^Marshal. 

On  this  point  the  court  said :  *'The  office  and  jurisdiction  of  a  court 
of  equity,  unless  enlarged  by  express  statute,  are  limited  to  the  pro- 
tection of  rights  of  property.  It  has  no  jurisdiction  over  the  prosecu- 
tion, the  punishment,  or  the  pardon,  of  crimes  or  misdemeanors,  or 
over  the  appointment  and  removal  of  public  officers,  or  to  sustain  a 
bill  in  equity  to  restrain  or  relieve  against  proceedings  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  offenses,  or  for  the  removal  of  public  officers,  is  to  invade 
the  domain  of  the  courts  of  common  law,  or  of  the  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative department  of  the  Government." 

The  court  then  reviewed  the  petition  of  Mr.  Parsons  upon  which 
the  restraining  order  was  granted.  The  matters  of  law  stated  in  that 
bill  as  grounds  for  the  intervention  of  the  Circuit  Court  were  that  tlie 
amended  ordinance  was  an  ex-post-facto  law,  and  that  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  City  Council  and  its  committee,  as  well  as  both  ordinances,  were 
illegal  and  void,  and  in  conflict  with  and  in  violation  of  those  articles 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  provide  that  no  person 
shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  ot 
law ;  tlwt  in  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  dis- 
trict where  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  and  to  have  compul- 
sory process  for  obtaining  witnessess  in  his  favor,  and  that  no  State 
.shall  pass  any  ex-jwst-fado  law,  or  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty, 
or  property,  without  due  process  of  law,  or  deny  to  any  person  within 
its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws.  The  court  held  that 
the  articles  which  provide  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law,  and  to  secure  to  the 
accused  in  criminal  prosecutions  trial  by  jury,  and  compulsory  pro- 
cess for  his  witnesses,  apply  to  the  United  States  only,  and  not  to  laws 
or  proceedings  under  the  authority  of  a  State,  and  that  the  provision 
which  prohibits  any  State  to  pass  ex-post-facto  laws  applies  only  to 
legislation  concerning  crime;  that  if  the  ordinances  and  proceedings 
of  the  Council  were  in  the  nature  of  civil  as  distinguished  from  crim- 
inal proceedings,  the  only  possible  ground  for  the  interposition  of  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  in  any  form  was  that  Parsons,  if  removed 
from  office,  would  be  deprived  by  the  State,  of  life,  liberty,  or  prop- 


338  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

erty,  without  due  process  of  law,  or  has  been  denied  the  equal  protec- 
tion of  the  laws.  For  this  a  remedy  could  be  found  in  the  courts  of 
the  State,  by  proper  proceedings,  and  the  equity  courts  were  powerless 
to  interfere.  l)Ut  that  whether  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  were 
to  be  regarded  as  in  their  nature  criminal  or  civil,  judicial  or  merely 
administrative,  they  related  to  a  subject  which  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States,  sitting  in  equity,  has  no  jurisdiction  or  power  ovcr^ 
and  can  neither  try  and  determine  for  itself,  nor  restrain  by  injunc- 
tion, the  tribunals  and  officers  of  the  State  and  city  from  trying  and 
determining;  that  the  court  being  without  jurisdiction  to  entertain  the 
bill  for  an  injunction,  all  its  proceedings  in  the  exercise  of  the  juris- 
diction which  it  assumed  are  null  and  void ;  that  it  had  no  power  ta 
make  the  restraining  order;  that  the  adjudication  that  the  defendants 
were  guilty  of  contempt  in  disregarding  that  order  was  equally  void; 
and  that  their  detention  by  the  Marshal  under  that  adjudication  was 
M'ithout  authority  of  law,  and  they  should  be  discharged. 

The  termination  of  this  proceeding  in  the  manner  above  indicated^ 
completely  vindicating  the  action  of  the  Council,  was  greeted  by  the 
citizens  of  Lincoln  with  great  rejoicing,  and  the  released  councilmen 

were  the  heroes  of  the  hour. 

4 


THE  TARTARRAX  PAGEANT.  339 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Tartakrax  Pageant— The  Originator  or  the  Idea— The  Parade 
— The  Purpose  to  Make  the  Tartarrax  Parade  an  Annual  Oc- 
currence. 

Mr.  Robert  McReynolds,  manager  of"  Funke's  Opera  JIoii.se,  is  a 
man  of  large  ideality,  and  possesses  a  high  appreciation  of  the  ro- 
mantic, poetic,  and  spectacular.  He  has  seen  the  world,  and  has  an 
eye  to  what  will  please  the  people.  He  is  not  afraid  to  do  and  dare, 
and  take  reasonable  chances  on  Avinning  success.  He  was  one  of  the 
pioneer  adventurers  into  the  Black  Hills,  and  went  there  as  early  as 
February,  1876.  During  the  closing  months  of  that  year  he  explored 
Mexico,  visited  Cuba,  and  meditated  on  the  poetic  deeds  of  Christo- 
pher Columbus  while  standing  by  his  tomb  in  the  cathedral  of  Santa 
Domingo,  in  Havana.  During  1878  and  1879  he  traveled  over  the 
battle-scarred  Southern  States,  and  wrote  what  he  saw  for  the  press. 
When  the  great  gold  excitement  w^as  taking  thousands  to  licadville, 
he  assisted  in  leading  the  van.  He  is  the  author  of  several  novels 
that  have  been  published  in  book  form,  and  his  newspaper  "  fairy  tale," 
which  resurrected  Brigham  Young,  the  late  president  and  priest  of 
the  Salt  Lake  "Saints,"  and  found  him  hidden  away  near  Lincoln, 
was  one  of  the  most  successful  canards  published  in  recent  years.  He 
settled  down  to  business  in  1880,  in  this  city,  and  it  so  happened  that 
during  recent  months  that  he  read  the  tale  of  mythological  heroism 
displayed  by  the  Spanish  general,  Coronado,  who  traveled  from  Mex- 
ico to  Nebraska  to  see  whether  King  Tartarrax  really  did  live  in 
golden  splendor  in  the  Land  of  the  Quivera,  as  related  in  another 
chapter  of  this  book. 

When  it  was  proposed  during  April  and  ]May  to  celebrate  the 
Fourth  of  July  this  year,  the  city  seemed  to  think  it  ought  to  be 
done.  Lincoln  had  not  attempted  a  worthy  observance  of  the  day 
for  a  number  of  years.  Various  plans  were  proposed,  to  the  end 
that  something  unique  and  entertaining  might  be  produced.  Mr. 
McReynolds  suggested  to  several  of  his  friends  of  the  city  press  that 


340 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOI>N. 


the  story  of  King  Tartarrax  might  be  adopted,  in  some  way,  to  pro- 
duce at  least  a  fine  spectacular  parade  and  effect.  He  could  see,  in 
his  mind,  how  great  a  pageant  the  Court  of  Tartarrax  and  the  ar- 
mored cavaliers  of  Coronado  would  make.  There  would  be  the  glit- 
ter, the  pomp,  the  richly-colored  uniforms,  the  panoplied  knights,  the 
^rms  and  banners  of  the  time;  and  all  this  was  Nebraska's  own  tra- 
dition, peculiar  to  herself.  It  was  practically  fitting,  and,  it  seemed 
to  him,  a  "drawing  card." 


ROBT.   McREYNOLDS,   ORIGINATOR  OF   THE  TARTARRAX   PAGEANT. 


He  explained  his  scheme  to  R.  L.  liowe,  among  others,  then  with 
the  l^tate  Journal,  who,  in  writing  about  it  afterward,  found  it  nec- 
essary to  reconcile  the  fact  that,  while  many  had  fallen  in  with  the 
Tartarrax  plan  of  celebration,  the  labor  organizations  of  the  city  had 
decided  to  have  a  symbolic  display  of  the  industries  and  business  of 
tlie  city.  He  proj^osed  that  the  Tartarrax  representation  and  the 
trades  display  be  united  on  the  plan  of  exhibiting  Nebraska  in  the 
semi-barbaric  days  of  the  weird  Spanish  invasion,  under  the  rule  of 


THE  TARTARRAX  PAGEANT.  341 

kings,  and  Nebraska  in  1889,  nnder  the  prosperity  and  laws  of  tlio 
Republic. 

This  scheme  of  unification  was  adopted  and  substantially  carried  out. 
To  encourage  the  people  to  make  the  pageant  as  great  a  success  as 
possible,  he  also  urged,  in  the  paper,  that  the  Tartarrax  and  Trades 
Display  be  used  as  the  foundation  for  an  annual  carnival,  similar  to 
that  of  the  Veiled  Prophet,  in  St,  Louis,  and  Mardi  Gras,  in  New 
Orleans,  that  the  nation  might  become  more  familiar  with  Nebraska 
and  Lincoln,  through  the  interesting  combination  of  the  poetic  past 
and  the  patriotic  and  realistic  present.  This  possibility  was  also  kept 
in  view  in  the  preparation  of  the  Tartarrax  and  Industrial  Pageant, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  Tartarrax  will  come  to  be  a  great 
National  attraction  during  the  next  five  or  six  years,  more  interesting 
than  the  Veiled  Prophet  or  Mardi  Gras,  because  more  appropriate  to 
the  institutions  of  our  country,  and  more  heroic  and  poetic. 

On  the  17th  of  May  Mr.  McReynolds  appeared  before  the  city 
Board  of  Trade,  Mhieh  convened  in  the  county  conrt  room,  on  the 
third  floor  of  the  building  on  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  j\[  streets. 
He  proposed  to  the  board  that  it  give  official  sanction  and  enconrage- 
ment  to  a  grand  Fourth  of  July  celebration  movement,  indicating 
briefly  the  nature  <^f  the  proposed  exposition.  The  board  hesitated  a 
little,  as  it  was  making  a  vigorous  effort  to  raise  §10,000  by  snl)scrip- 
tion  to  advertise  the  city,  and  feared  that  a  second  call  for  money  might 
imperil  the  success  of  the  main  subscription.  But  INIessrs,  Thomas 
LoAvrey,  M,  Ackerman,  and  others,  pressed  the  matter  and  said  the 
board  would  be  asked  for  no  money.  The  use  of  its  name  was  all 
that  was  solicited.  The  matter  was  finally  disposed  of  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  of  five  to  report  to  the  board,  at  an  early 
meeting,  on  the  feasibility  of  attempting  a  celebration  of  the  kind 
projected.  This  committee  was  composed  of  Messrs.  M.  Ackerman, 
J.  J.  Butler,  C.  J,  Ernst,  A,  D.  Kitchen,  and  Robert  McReynolds. 

A  w^eek  later.  May  24th,  this  committee  reported  to  the  board  at 
the  same  place,  and  unanimously  agreed  "that  a  grand  celebration  of 
the  Fourth  of  July  be  heartily  recommended  by  the  Lincoln  Board  of 
Trade."  This  report  was  adopted  by  the  board,  and  a  committee  of 
ten  was  named  to  represent  the  board  in  the  preparation  of  the  dis- 
play, said  committee  being  strictly  instructed  to  incur  no  financial 
liabilitv  in  the  name  of  the  board.     The  committee  selected  was  as 


342  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

follows:  Robert  McReynolds,  Chairman;  M.  Ackermaii,  C.  J.  Ernst, 
Frank  Perkins,  Phelps  Paine,  C.  C.  Munson,  H.  Woltemacle,  J.  J. 
Butler,  T.  F.  Lasch,  J.  C.  Seacrest. 

Later  in  the  evening,  a  committee  representing  the  Central  Trades 
Union  of  the  city,  appeared  before  the  board,  and  announced,  through 
its  chairman,  INlr.  George  A.  Fox,  that  the  workingmen  had  decided 
upon  a  celebration  in  the  city,  and  asked  the  board's  cooperation. 
Mr.  E.  E.  Brown  moved  that  the  board  committee  be  instructed  to 
cooperate  with  all  other  committees  in  arranging  for  a  Fourth  of 
July  celebration.  This  was  unanimously  agreed  to.  On  the  evening 
of  June  3d,  these  committees  met  on  the  stage  of  Funke's  Opera 
House,  organized  by  electing  Robert  INIcReynolds  chairman  of  the 
joint  committee,  appointed  subcommittees  to  take  charge  of  the  various 
features  of  the  celebration,  such  as  finance,  decorations,  the  press,  ad- 
vertising, and  so  on. 

Then  the  work  went  on  with  energy.  Such  a  pageant  was  an  ex- 
periment in  Lincoln,  and  it  was  hard  work  to  devise  plans  new  to  all, 
get  the  people  interested,  and  come  up  to  the  requirements  of  the 
advertisements  that  had  to  be  put  out  at  once.  But  here  the  peculiar 
ability  of  Robert  McReynolds  was  best  displayed.  He  planned,  en- 
couraged, and  pushed  the  scheme  with  constant  energy.  He  sent  out 
printed  matter  in  the  form  of  edicts  and  commissions  from  King  Tar- 
tarrax,  to  his  faithful  subjects,  and  commissions  from  Coronado  to  his 
faithful  cavaliers,  commanding  them  to  appear  and  aid  in  the  pageant. 
These  productions  were  in  illuminated  colors,  with  oriental  and  caba- 
listic embellishments,  and  were  wonderfully  unique.  After  much 
zealous  labor,  in  which  Robert  McReynolds  was  the  inspiring  pres- 
ence, and  M.  Ackerman,  T.  F.  Lasch,  G.  A.  Fox,  and  J.  H.  Kramer, 
distinguished  themselves  for  tireless,  energetic  assistance,  the  great 
anniversary  day  came,  bright  and  salubrious.  Early  in  the  day  every 
window,  and  many  house  tops,  from  O  and  Twenty-seventh  streets  to 
Eighth,  and  for  several  blocks  in  all  directions  from  O  and  Tenth,  on 
the  line  of  the  procession,  were  filled  with  eager  faces.  Every  foot  of 
sidewalk  on  the  route  was  occupied,  and  the  side  streets  were  filled 
with  vehicles  loaded  with  persons,  full  of  patriotic  interest. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  when  the  parade  was  ready  to  begin,  a 
couple  of  messengers  should  ride  swiftly  and  deliver  to  Lieutenant  C. 
P.  Walter,  commauder  of  the  State  University  artillery,  on  the  uni- 


i     y< 


344  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

versity  campus,  orders  to  fire  the  national  salute,  which  was  to  be  the 
sio-nal  to  the  great  procession  to  start,  and  to  the  people  that  it  was  in 
motion.  Harry  BartruiF  and  William  McClay,  two  bold  young  men, 
were  each  mounted  on  a  "runaway  "  horse,  and  stood  just  at  the  head 
of  the  parade,  at  Twenty-fourth  and  O  streets.  The  street  was  clear 
of  street-cars,  vehicles,  and  people,  the  entire  length.  The  army  of 
spectators  were  earnestly  expectant.  The  king,  Mr.  Eichard  O'Neill, 
in  fine  costume  of  gold,  silk,  velvet,  brass  armor,  and  crown,  gave  the 
signal  that  all  was  ready.  Marshal  W.  W.  Carder,  and  the  city  police, 
all  mounted,  dressed  into  position,  ready  for  the  boom  of  the  cannon 
and  command,  "Forward."  The  head  of  the  column  was  at  once  on 
the  alert. 

Then  the  two  heralds  were  given  the  word  to  "go."  Their  racers 
fairly  sprang  into  the  air,  and  were  off  like  the  wind.  It  had  been  the 
intention  of  the  riders  to  make  the  start  on  the  dead  run,  then  move 
more  slowly  from  Nineteenth  to  Fifteenth  streets,  and  then  make  an- 
other swift  dash  the  remainder  of  the  distance.  But  one  horse  took 
the  bit  in  his  teeth  and  made  a  dead  race  of  it  all  the  way  to  the  post- 
office  ;  in  fact  made  a  race  of  it  without  regard  to  his  rider.  The 
other  horse,  of  course,  kept  up  as  best  he  could.  This  spectacle  elec- 
trified the  great  concourse  of  people,  and  many  declared  it  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  and  inspiring  sights  of  the  day.  The  heralds  started 
at  ll:56i^  o'clock  a.m.,  and  the  first  boom  of  the  cannon  resounded 
over  the  city  just  as  the  clock  in  Temple  hall  began  to  strike  for  noon. 
Tlien  the  great  procession  began  to  slowly  move  westward  on  O  street ; 
and  it  was  a  pageant  whjch  probably  never  was  approached  in  beauty, 
magnitude,  and  complexity  of  display,  west  of  the  Missouri  river, 
certainly  not  in  Nebraska  or  outside  of  San  Francisco,  if  even  there. 
The  column  filled  the  street,  in  many  parts,  to  its  full  width,  for  a 
continuous  distance  of  over  thirty  blocks,  or  two  and  one-half  miles. 
The  horsemen  and  footmen  were  in  the  varicolored  costumes  of  me- 
dieval Spain,  or  of  modern  Turks,  and  other  nations,  and  all  were 
decked  in  more  or  less  gold  and  silver  ornaments.  Many  wore  some 
sort  of  brilliant  armor,  crested  helmets,  and  other  striking  imitations 
of  antique  costumes  and  heraldry.  Bright  spears  and  battle  axes, 
irorgeous  banners,  plumes,  and  glittering  shields,  were  numerous.  The 
head  of  the  procession  represented  the  Tartarrax  scheme.  The  main 
portion  of  the  display  was  for  the  arts,  trades,  resources,  and  principles- 
of  the  modern  republic. 


THE  TARTARRAX  PAGEANT.  345 

After  the  police,  mounted,  in  uniform,  and  wearing  light  colored 
helmet  caps,  came  Gordon's  drum  corps,  fantastically  costumed,  led 
by  Marshals  L.  S.  Gillick  and  A.  T.  Cameron.  Then  followed'  the 
king's  herald,  splendidly  mounted,  and  dressed  like  a  Turkish  pasha. 
The  king's  buglers,  sounding  the  king's  coming,  were  in  Spanish  dress. 
Then  followed  King  Tartarrax,  Mr.  Richard  O'Xeill,  mounted  on  a 
white  horse,  costumed  in  red  velvet,  w  ith  rich  trimmings.  He  wore  a 
long  gray  beard  and  gray  hair,  a  crown  of  gold  studded  with  brilliant 
jewels.  Following  him  were  fifty  mounted  cavaliers  in  knightly  cos- 
tumes. The  king  and  his  guard  were  Knights  of  Pythias.  Next  came 
the  University  Cadet  Band,  musicians  to  the  queen  of  Tartarrax.  The 
queen,  Miss  Nellie  Graves,  robed  in  purple  and  scarlet  satin,  followed, 
riding  in  a  gorgeously  decked  chariot,  surrounded  by  her  court,  all 
clad  in  rich  and  appropriate  costumes.  Following  were  two  other 
large  display  chariots,  filled  with  members  of  the  queen's  cotn-t.  These 
were  mainly  Odd  Fellows  and  Daughters  of  Kebekah.  ]\Ir.  A.  H. 
Weir  was  the  queen's  minister.  Curtice  &  Thiers's  Military  Band 
were  musicians  to  General  Coronado.  Mr.  T.  Lowrev  followed  the 
queen,  costumed  like  a  Spanish  officer  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  Mr.  E.  W.  Hunt,  chief  of  the  staiF,  rode  at  the  general's 
left,  and  his  richly  armed  and  warlike  staff  came  next  in  brilliant 
array.  Then  came  the  Omaha  Wheel  Club,  other  ^vheelmen,  and  the 
Lincoln  Wheelmen,  the  latter  rigged  out  in  show  attire  of  red,  white, 
and  blue,  and  their  wheels  bright  with  flags  and  bunting.  A  phalanx 
of  colored  spearmen,  in  striking  dress  of  knightly  cut,  marched  ahead 
of  the  open  barouches  conveying  Mayor  Graham,  Ex-Mayor  Sawyer, 
Hon.  G.  M.  Lambertson,  and  R.  H.  Oakley,  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  other  citizens. 

Then  came  the  industrial  and  merchants'  parade,  making  a  highly 
creditable  display.  After  the  line  of  march  had  been  completed,  the 
exercises  at  the  capitol  grounds  came  next  in  order,  where  Tartarrax 
welcomed  his  visitors,  Coronado,  and  ambassadors  from  the  courts  of 
Mexico  and  other  Southern  States,  and  was  presented  Avith  the  keys 
of  the  city  by  his  honor  the  Mayor. 

The  Tartarrax  parade  proved  to  be  a  wonderful  success,  and  if  in 
future  years  the  idea  is  reproduced  and  made  more  elaborate  in  its 
production,  the  pageant  of  1889  will  be  looked  back  to  as  the  start- 
ing point  of  one  distinguishing  feature  about  Lincoln  which  will  make 
her  name  a  household  word  throughout  the  country. 
23 


346  HISTORY    OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

Lancaster  Pioneebs— The  Fobmation  of  the  Old  Settlers'  Association 
— The  Membership  of  the  Association  on  August  1,  1889. 

The  great  men  and  women  of  this  nation  have  generally  been  pio- 
neers, or  the  descendants  of  pioneers.  Abraham  Lincoln,  General 
U.  S.  Grant,  Andrew  Jackson,  James  A.  Garfield,  and  Benjamin 
Harrison,  are  examples  of  pioneer  manhood.  It  takes  a  man  or 
woman  who  has  the  constancy  and  courage  of  heroes  to  go  to  a  wild 
and  unsubdued  region  and  battle  with  nature,  Indians,  poverty,  years 
of  hard  labor,  and  deny  themselves  the  luxuries  of  organized  society, 
for  the  purpose  of  earning  a  home  and  competence  for  their  declining 
years.  The  pioneers  are  among  the  heroes  of  progress  and  civiliza- 
tion, to  whom  society  will  ever  be  indebted. 

Their  hardships  develop  a  spirit  of  fraternity  among  them,  and 
when  the  conflicts  of  the  wilderness  are  over,  they  take  delight  iu 
forming  associations  to  commemorate  the  deeds  done  in  conquering 
the  wilderness  and  creating  a  new  State.  They  recount  the  history 
of  the  past,  smile  at  early  hardships,  recall  situations  of  terror  and 
distress  with  grim  humor,  and  sing  "Auld  Lang  Syne"  with  a  zest 
and  brotherly  warmth  that  is  the  very  spirit  of  eloquence. 

The  time  is  now  ripe  for  an  Old  Settlers'  Association  in  Lincoln 
and  Lancaster  county,  and  such  an  association  is  now  in  existence, 
probably  for  a  long  life,  to  gratify  the  pioneers,  and  to  record  their 
history  while  engaged  in  the  work  of  erecting  this  splendid  common- 
wealth on  the  site  of  the  coyote's  den,  and  making  way  for  the  flying 
palace  car  in  place  of  the  Indian  trail  of  1860. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  organize  a  permanent  association  in  1882, 
but  the  time  did  not  seem  ripe,  and  it  was  a  failure.  Twenty-five 
•old  settlers  then  met,  on  July  4th,  and  drafted  a  constitution  and 
.signed  it,  and  elected  oflicers. 

The  signers  at  that  coiivention  were  the  following  well-known  gen- 
tlemen : 


Levi  Snell. 

M.  G.  Bohanan. 

F.  H.  Bohanan. 

Stewart  McConiga. 

T.  P.  Kennard. 

Louis  Helmer. 

S.  B.  Galey. 

J.  W.  Prey. 

E.  T.  Hudson. 

Sam  McClay. 

J.  L.  Porter. 

Wm.  Mills. 

A.  G.  Hastings. 


OLD  settlers'  association.  347 

T.  M.  Ganter. 
J.  M.  Young. 
John  McManigal. 
D.  Banghart. 
C.  H.  Gere. 
J.  O.  Young. 
R.  R.  Tingley. 
H.  G.  Jessup. 
W.  W.  Carder. 
L.  H.  Robbins. 
O.  N.  Humphrey. 
Austin  Humphrey. 


The  officers  elected  were  as  follows :  President,  J.  W.  Prey ;  Vice 
President,  E.  T.  Hudson;  Secretary,  Austin  Humphrey;  Treasurer 
N.  C.  Brock.  The  meeting  of  July  4th  adjourned  to  meet  July  15th, 
but  only  four  persons  were  present  at  that  time,  and  an  adjournment 
was  taken  to  September;  but  the  organization  never  had  another 
meeting. 

But  the  attempt  to  organize  an  association  the  present  year  has 
been  very  successful,  owing  very  largely  to  the  untiring  and  enthusi- 
astic efforts  of  Mr.  M.  G.  Bohanan,  who  has  kept  it  constantly  be- 
fore the  minds  of  the  pioneers,  and  by  personal  solicitation  has  secured 
nearly  fonr  hundred  names  for  membership  in  the  association.  The 
meeting  for  organization  took  place  at  the  council  chamber,  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Q  and  Tenth  streets,  on  April  23,  1889.  Mr. 
A.  J.  Sawyer  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Hebard  was 
chosen  Secretary.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  a  constitution 
for  the  association,  the  same  to  be  reported  at  a  future  meeting.  This 
committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  A.  VV.  Field,  Levi  Snell,  S.  C.  Elli- 
ott, N.  S.  Harwood,  M,  Tower,  and  A.  J.  Sawyer.  A  committee  for 
each  township  in  the  county  was  selected,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to 
augment  the  membership,  and  generally  promote  the  interests  of  the 
association.  It  was  agreed  that  eligibility  to  membership  should  be 
based  on  a  residence  in  the  county  dating  as  early  as  1875. 

The  next  meeting  was  held  at  Bohanan's  hall,  on  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Tenth  and  N  streets,  on  May  11,  1889.  Captain  L.  W.  Bil- 
lingsley  was  called  to  the  chair  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Hebard  was  continued 
as  secretary.  Nearly  one  hundred  of  the  pioneers  were  present,  and  a 
complete  organization  was  effected. 


348  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

]Mr.  A.  J.  Sawyer,  for  the  committee  appointed  to  draft  a  constitu- 
tion for  the  association,  reported  a  set  of  bv-laws  and  rules  for  the 
government  of  the  organization,  which  were  adopted.  The  basis  of 
membei'ship  was  made  a  fifteen  years'  residence  in  the  county,  so  that 
the  continuance  of  the  association  may  be  perpetual.  It  was  also  ar- 
ranged that  a  general  rally  at  Cushman  park  should  take  place  on 
June  19,  1889.  Various  committees  were  named  to  prepare  the  pro- 
gramme for  that  occasion. 

Most  of  the  old  settlers  present  signed  the  constitution.  The  com- 
mittee appointed  to  nominate  permanent  officers  for  the  association 
recommended  the  following  persons  for  the  positions  specified : 

President — Mr.  L.  W.  Billingsley. 

Vice  Presidents  —  Oak  Precinct,  J.  S.  Hennance;  Denton  Precinct,  E.  T.  Hud- 
son; Little  Salt  Precinct,  Mat.  Maule;  Yankee  Hill  Precinct,  Ans.  Williams;  West 
Oak  Precinct,  L.  B.  McFarland;  Centerville  Precinct,  D.  E.  Prey;  Highland  Pre- 
cinct, Nicholas  Bahl;  Elk  Precinct,  J.  W.  Smith;  Buda  Precinct,  H.  C.  Keller; 
Grant  Precinct,  J.  S.  Umangst ;  South  Pass  Precinct,  Phil  Burling ;  Lancaster  Pre- 
cinct, Phil  Hacker  ;  Waverly  Precinct,  J.  P.  Loder  ;  Stevens  Creek  Precinct,  J.  H. 
Wilcox  ;  Olivg  Branch  Precinct,  Henry  Holman ;  North  Blutt'  Precinct,  John  Dee; 
Middle  Creek  Precinct,  J.  W.  Castor;  Panama  Precinct,  O.  N.  Hazleton ;  Nemaha 
Precinct,  Wm.  Roggeucamp;  Mill  Precinct,  John  Dale;  Stockton  Precinct,  Charles 
Retzliif ;  Saliillo  Precinct,  W.  E.  Keys;  Garfield  Precinct,  Ed.  Garfield;  Lincoln, 
First  Ward,  Patrick  Haydeu  ;  Second  Ward,  F.  H.  Bohanan  ;  Third  Ward,  Amasa 
Cobb;  Fourth  Ward,  C.  M.  Parker:  Fifth  Ward,  H.  T.  Davis;  Sixth  Ward.  W.W. 
Carder. 

Secretary —  Mr.  J.  P.  Hebard. 

Treasurer  —  Mr.  J.  W.  Prey. 

Executive  Committee  —  Messrs.  Levi  Snell,  M.  G.  Bohanan,  and  J.  V.  Wolf. 

The  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  on  June  the  8th  to  complete  the  ar- 
rangements preliminary  to  the  rally  at  the  park  on  June  19th. 

The  picnic  was  a  great  success,  the  day  was  beautiful,  and  the  old 
settlers  assembled  by  hundreds  from  all  parts  of  the  county.  The 
number  of  pioneers  present  were  estimated  at  600,  and  with  their 
children  and  friends,  perhaps  had  an  aggregate  attendance  of  fifteen 
hundred  people. 

The  exercises  began  at  11  o'clock  with  prayer  by  Rev.  H.  T.  Davis. 
Then  the  principal  address  of  the  day  was  delivered  by  Mr.  C.  H. 
Gere.  This  was  made  up  of  historical  reminiscences  of  the  principal 
events  in  the  founding  of  the  city,  and  settling  the  county,  between 
the  years  1867  to  1871  inclusive.  After  singing  "Auld  Lang  Syne" 
Mr.  J.  V.  Wolf,  the  association  poet,  read  a  set  of  rhymed  collections. 


OLD  settlers'  association.  349 

Judge  S.  B.  Pound  spoke  on  "Lincoln,  Law,  and  Groceries,"  referring 
to  the  years  of  1866  to  1868,  when  he  was  engaged  in  both  occupa- 
tions without  great  inconvenience  to  himself,  Colonel  J.  E.  JMiiljwtt 
followed  with  some  remarks  on  "  The  Missouri  as  a  Highway  to  Ne- 
braska in  1867,"  detailing  some  river  experiences  of  the  very  early 
days,  and  the  importance  of  the  river  routes  in  rcacliing  tlic  interior 
of  the  great  west. 

After  further  vocal  music,  Mr.  Stewart  McConiga  (lctaik>d  liow  the 
settlers  rushed  in  for  claims  at  "  The  United  States  Land  Office 
Twenty  Years  Ago,"  at  which  he  was  the  Register.  Mr. A.  J.  Sawyer 
recounted  the  years  of  trial  during  which  the  grasshoppers  scourged 
this  region,  the  period  being  from  1874  to  1876.  E,ev.  H.  T.  Davis 
related  some  entertaining  reminiscences  of  the  early  churches. 

Then  followed  a  "basket  dinner"  and  social  among  the  pioneers. 
After  dinner,  the  feature  which  first  attracted  attention  was  the  exhi- 
bition of  a  Lancaster  county  pony  twenty-six  years  old.  The  animal 
was  then  and  there  declared  a  member  of  the  Old  Settlers'  Association 
and  was  decorated  with  a  badge.  The  horse  was  the  pfoperty  of  S. 
W.  McKesson.  It  was  ridden  across  the  sight  of  Lincoln  before  the 
town  was  laid  out,  by  John  C.  Fremont.  McKesson,  who  was  on 
hand,  explained  the  circumstance  fully.  The  pony  was  nimble  enough 
to  clamber  up  into  the  speakers'  stand,  a  feat  which  not  many  horses 
can  be  induced  to  attempt. 

Colonel  George  B.  Skinner  told  about  liaving  been  auctioneer  for 
the  lot  sales  of  1869.  He  received  $1,500  for  five  days'  work,  and 
when  he  took  the  money  said  to  T.  P.  Kennard  that  he  would  not 
give  that  roll  of  bills  for  the  whole  town  and  the  whole  county  of 
Lancaster.  But  he  has  radically  changed  his  mind  since.  Mr.  John 
S.  Gregory  then  told  of  the  early  days  on  the  Salt  Basin  and  the  vil- 
lage of  Lancaster,  in  a  racy  and  entertaining  manner.  Mr.  Levi  Snell 
recalled  some  reminiscences  of  the  State  lot  sales.  Elder  E.  T.  Hud- 
son closed  the  programme  with  some  stories  of  the  very  early  settle- 
ments. Then  the  old  settlers  were  photographed  in  a  body,  and  the 
first  Congress  of  the  Old  Settlers  adjourned.  The  meeting  was  just 
such  a  wholesome,  happy,  aftair  as  affords  joy  to  the  heart  of  a  pioneer. 

Not  all  present  on  this  occasion  have  joined  the  association,  but  the 
record  of  those  who  have  is  a  valuable  part  of  the  history  of  this  county 
and  citv,  and  is  therefore  appended  in  full. 


350 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Here  is  the  Old  Settlers'  Association,  as  its  roster  appeared  in  Jnly^ 
1889,  the  native  State  and  year  of  coming  to  this  county  being  also 
given : 

ROLL  OF  OLD  SETTLERS. 


A.  S.  Godfrey,  Massachusetts,  '70. 
Louie  Meyer,  Austria,  '70. 
E.  E.  Brown,  New  York,  '70. 
C.  B.  Beach,  Ohio,  "69. 

A.  B.  Beach,  Ohio,  '70. 

W.  H.  Dobson,  Ontario,  '72. 

B.  Cox,  Virginia,  '72. 
Mrs.  E.  B.  Cox,  Ohio,  '72. 
John  Schuller,  Austria,  '74. 

S.  B.  Hohmann,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 

S.  Peckham,  England,  '74. 

James  B.  Hale,  Indiana,  '66 

J.  W.  Smith,  Indiana,  '73. 

John  Y.  EUenburg,  Germany,  '73 

R.  J.  \\^illiams,  Pennsylvania,  '68. 

J.  H.  Painter,  Pennsylvania,  '73. 

Dr.  A.  K.  Pain'ter,  Pennsylvania,  '74. 

J.  N.  T.  Jones,  Kentucky,  '69. 

Adelia  Boyd, Sweden,  '70. 

A.  H.  Wilson,  New  York,  '66. 

W.  Flanigan,  Canada,  '71. 

M.  V.  Radford,  Illinois,  '70. 

N.  G.  Franklin,  Ohio '71. 

H.  E.  George,  Illinois,  '70. 

E.  Duling,  Ohio,  '79. 

Luther  Batten,  Wisconsin,  '70. 

H.  L.  Andrews,  Wisconsin,  '71. 

O.  M.  Druse,  New  York,  '71. 

P.  Hayden,  Ireland,  '70. 

H.  Wittman,  Germany,  '73. 

H.  MalVjerts,  Germany,  '6r>. 

D.  L.  Peckham,  Michigan,  '67. 

J.  L.  Porter,  Virginia,  '66. 

L.  N.  Haskin,  New  York,  '63. 

James  Gilmore,  Indiana,  '72. 

Wm.  Frohn,  Germany,  '70. 

W.W.W.  Jones,  Illinois,  '74. 

A.  E.  Hargreaves,  England,  '72. 

J.  W.  Castor,  Ohio,  '73. 

Charles  Hichewick,  '67. 

Robert  Pickel,  Illinois,  '67. 

J.  K.  Honeywell,  New  York,  "68. 


H.  Schultz,  Germany,  '66. 

George  A.  Mayer,  Germany,  '63. 

F.  S.  Wittstruck,  Germany,  '65. 

J.  C.  Clarke,  Vermont,  '71. 

Ed.  Bingham,  England,  '67. 

J.  P.  Walton,  Ohio,  '74. 

C.  C  Pace,  Kentucky,  '74. 

Mrs.  M.  P.  Husted,  Michigan,  '67. 

W.  J.  Turner,  Ohio,  '69. 

W.  E.  G.  Caldwell,  New  Hampshire  '7(X. 

W.  J.  Cooper,  New  York,  '69. 

John  Currie,  Pennsylvania,  '72. 

Chris  Fossler,  Germany,  '69. 

M.  Bowden,  Ireland,  '68. 

R.  S.  Browne,  England,  '79. 

W.  C. Burke,  Ohio,  68. 

Fred  Schmidt,  Iowa,  '70. 

H.  H.  Blodgett,  New  York,  '69. 

J.  S.  Lefferdink,  Holland,  '71. 

H.   Heffner,  Germany,  '69. 

G.  M.  Blodgett,  New  York,  '69. 

J.  H.  Myer,  Hanover,  '69. 

Fred  Funke,  Germany,  '74. 

D.  L.  Graham,  Ohio,  '70. 
George  Sexton,  Ohio,  '75. 
J.  Farmer,  New  Jersey,  '70. 
Thomas  Morrissey,  Ireland,  '69. 
J.  A.  Morrissey,  Tennessee,  '66. 
J.  D.  Kleutsch,  Prussia,  '72. 

C.  G.  Bullock,  New  York,  '73. 

E.  G.  Bohanan,  Illinois,  '75. 
W.  R.  Horn,  Illinois,  '70. 
Thomas  C.  Mawe,  England,  '72. 
H.  S.  Gordon,  Massachusetts,  '74. 
C.  A.  Tucker,  Nebraska,  '71. 

[^  A.  Chandler,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 

j    A.  C.  Ricketts,  Ohio,  '72. 

1    W.  B.  Hargreaves,  England,  '70. 

I    J.  D.  Johnson,  Sweden,  '70. 

I    A.  Keens,  England,  '72. 

j    W.  L.  Gorton,  New  York  '70. 

1    I.  N.  Leonard,  Ohio,  '70. 


OLD  settlers'  associatiox. 


3ol 


H.  Oehlchlager,  Germauy,  '74. 

F.  Claus,  Germany,  '69. 

Thomas  Price,  Ireland,  '69. 

George  W.  Prey,  Wisconsin,  '56. 

Wm.  Charlton,  Iowa,  '73. 

H.  F.  Mitchell,  Ohio,  '73. 

H.  F.  Warner,  Iowa,  '64. 

A.  G.  Warner,  Iowa,  '64. 

J.  S.  Howard,  Ohio,  '72. 

Adna  Dobson,  Wisconsin,  '72. 

T.  R.  Prey,  Massachusetts,  '56. 

L.  H.  Meyer,  Iowa,  '68. 

W.  H.  Meyer,  Iowa,  '72. 

Henry  Bartells,  Germany,  '73. 

Silas  Sprague,  Ohio,  '68. 

M.  Oppeuheimer,  Germany,  '68. 

Joseph  Oppenheimer,  Missouri,  '70. 

John  Thompson,  71. 

Robert  M.  Manley,  Ohio,  "68. 

Robert  Mitchell,  England,  '71. 

J.  H.  Kellum,  Massachusetts,  '71. 

Cornelius  Moran,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  '61. 

M.  G.  Bohanan,  Illinois,  '68. 

E.  T.  Roberts,  New  York,  '73. 

H.  D.  Hathaway,  Ohio,  '72. 

George  Sherrer,  Germany,  '72. 

Maurice  Dee,  Nebraska,  '60. 

N.  D.  Smith,  Ohio,  '71. 

E.  R.  Sizer,  Illinois,  '74. 

A.  W.  Field,  Illinois,  '63. 

N.  C.  Abbott,  New  York,  '71. 

T.  C.  Kern,  Indiana,  '72. 

Wm.  Roggenkamp,  Friezen,  '60. 

H.  W.  Hardy,  New  York,  '71. 

J.  A.  Bailey,  Ohio,  '68. 

Timothy  Kelley,  Ireland,  '69. 

Ed.  A.  Church,  England,  '68. 

J.  B.  Trickey,  Illinois,  '70. 

Mark  Howe,  Ohio,  '70. 

R.  H.  Corner,  England,  '73. 

H.  H.  Grimes,  Ohio,  '74. 

W.  E.  Wittman,  Indiana,  '70. 

W.  J.  Marshall,  Vermont,  '70. 

C.  H.  Foxworthy,  Indiana,  '74. 

J.  H.  Foxworthj^,  Indiana,  '73. 

M.  Shay,  Ireland,  '59. 

Ellen  Shay,  Ireland,  '59. 

E.  B.  Hyde,  Illinois,  '69. 


Eddie  I.  Bohanan,  Nebraska,  '74, 
Isaac  Wliited,  Ohio,  '71. 
J.  F.  Schultz,  Germany,  '67, 

C.  C.  Morse,  Vermont,  '72. 

A.  C.  Munson,  Nebraska,  '71. 
MatMaule, ,  '71. 

D.  C.  Brown,  Missouri,  '72. 
R.  W.  Kent,  Illinois,  '73. 

W.  H.  Schmale,  Germany,  '67. 
C.  A.  Porter,  Iowa,  '66. 
H.  Perkins,  Indiana,  '69. 
M.  B.  Donahue,  Iowa,  '68. 
M.  Cobb,  Wisconsin,  '71. 
Harry  Abbott,  England,  '71. 
J.  A.  Snyder,  Indiana,  '62. 
Wm.  Bohanan,  Illinois,  '69. 
C.  F.  Retzlift;  Germany,  58. 

E.  L.  English,  Illinois,  '70. 

A.  G.  Kellum,  Massachusetts,  '71. 

Henry  Alberts,  Germany,  '65. 

H.  H.  Schaberg,  Wisconsin,  '70. 

T.  E.  Longstreet,  New  York,  '70. 

A.  W.  Stutheit,  Iowa,  '66. 

S.  C.  Blasier,  New  York,  '68. 

John  Lundgreen,  '73. 

L.  B.  McFarland,  Ohio,  '74. 

G.  A.  Spencer,  New  York.  '71. 

C.  G.  Beams,  Ohio,  '74. 

Sam  McClay,  Ohio,  '67. 

James  Burcham,  Ohio,  '68. 
'    John  Fisher,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 

Phil  Bohanan,  Nebraska,"  71. 

E.  Warnes,  England,  '62. 

J.  C.  McNair,  Maryland. 

George  A.  Nandichle,  New  Jersey,  '69. 

J.  J.  Robinson,  New  York,  '71. 

G.  E.  Cox,  Nova  Scotia,  '71. 

T.  D.  Moultou,  Illinois,  '75. 

L.  N.  Fuller,  Massachusetts,  "70. 
:    E.  S.  Reed,  New  York,  '72. 
i    W.  M.  Oyler,  Missouri,  '75. 

Jacob  North,  England,  '72. 

Wm.  McClain,  Indiana,  '65. 

A.  M.  Davis,  Indiana,  "67. 

H.  J.  Walsh,  Ireland,  '69. 

John  Schmidt,  Bavaria,  '71. 

Eli  Bates,  Ohio,  '74. 

J.  IL  Bing,  Ohio,  "72. 


352 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOIiX. 


C  M.  Leighton,  Maine,  '68. 

Dennis  Merriman,  Ireland,  '68. 

W.  H.  Boyer,  Ohio,  '68. 

Wm.  Hopkins,  Delaware,  '71. 

Chris  Rocke,  Atlantic  Ocean,  '70. 

C.  E.  Hedges,  Illinois,  '73. 

J.  F.  Bishop,  Indiana,  '70. 

J.  W.  Hedges,  New  York,  '73. 

J.  AY.  Rees,  Ohio,  70. 

A.  H.  Masterman,  West  Indies,  '74. 

Adam  Bax,  Germany,  '68. 

W.  W.  Wilson,  Pennsylvania,  '71. 

John  Reed,  Wisconsin,  '71. 

W.  E.  Keys,  Ohio,  '63. 

Eleanor  G.  Keys,  Canada,  '63. 

J.  J.  Butler,  Newfoundland,  '69. 

W.  F.  Little,  Pennsylvania,  '72. 

J.  S.  Gregory,   first  permanent  settler, 

Vermont,  '62. 
C.  O.  Strickland,  Illinois,  '69. 
John  Michael,  Pennsylvania,  '56. 
W.  L.  Wilcox,  West  Virginia,  '70. 
I.  M.  Raymond.  New  York,  '71. 
O.  P.  Davis,  Ohio,  '73. 
W.  H.  Goodrich,  NewsYork,  '70. 
R.  P.  R.  Millar,  Missouri,  '84. 
M.  D.  Henry,  Ohio,  '67. 
W.  E.  Field,  Massachusetts,  '74. 
C.  H.  Hohmann,  '69. 
T.  J.  Dickson,  Scotland,  '71. 
A.  L.  Frost,  Iowa,  '68. 
C.  C.  Munson,  Connecticut,  '70. 
H.  Gardner,  England,  '73. 
J.  R.  Clark,  Ohio,  '74. 
J.  H.  North,  England,  '73. 

F.  A.  Hovey,  New  York,  '69. 

G.  F.  Hodges,  Iowa,  '67. 
S.  K.  Hale,  Ohio,  '75. 
Nels  Westover,  Canada,  '70. 
0.  H.  Castor,  Ohio,  '73. 

J.  H.  Bullock,  New  York,  '73. 
H.  Vanderpool,  New  York,  '72. 
W.  E.  Hardy,  New  York,  '71. 
W.  G.  Bohanan,  Illinois,  '69. 
T.  H.  Hyde,  Vermont,  '68. 
W.  G.  Roberts,  New  York,  '73. 
J.  F.  Cadman,  Illinois,  '59. 
G.  R.  Wolf,  Prussia,  '73. 


L.  P.  Fisher,  New  York,  '70. 

C.  J.  Heffly,  Pennsylvania,  '67. 
M.  L.  Hiltner,  Pennsylvaui;i,  '69. 
R.  Schneider,  Switzerland,  '71. 
A.  G.  Barnes,  Ohio,  '74. 

E.  A.  Morgan,  New  York,  '70. 

A.  G.  Hastings,  Connecticut,  '69. 

J.  P.  Loder,  Ohio,  '57. 

Robt.  McCartney,  Illinois,  '69. 

J.  M.  Meyers,  Ohio,  '69. 

J.  M.  Tiger,  New  Jersey,  '67. 

Oscar  Lau,  Pennsylvania,  '67. 

Hiram  Polly,  New  York,  '74. 

W.  J.  Harris,  Ohio,  '65. 

A.  S.  Williams,  Massachusetts,  '68. 
Henry  Townsou,  England,  '74. 

W.  D.  Gulick,  New  Hampshire,  '72. 

J.  E.  Philpott,  Indiana,  '67. 

J.  H.  White,  England,  '09. 

L.  B.  Treeman,  New  York,  '73. 

B.  F.  McCall,  New  York,  '66. 
J.  Wheeler,  Ohio,  '68. 

P.  O'Shea,  Canada  West,  '71 . 
Gottlieb  Meyer,  Germany,  '73. 

D.  D.  Helweg,  Germany,  '73. 
James  Kane,  Ireland,  '71. 

J.  H.  Ames,  Vermont,  '69. 

E.  C.  Ames,  Nebraska,  '75. 
Kate  Martin,  Ireland,  '67. 
W.  J.  Lamb,  New  York,  '68. 

C.  C.  Burr,  Illinois,  '68. 

M.  W.  Sargent,  New  York,  '74. 
W.  C.  Davis,  Indiana,  '70. 
W.  T.  Scott,  England,  '72. 
J.  N.  Larsh,  Indiana,  '70. 

D.  E.  Prey,  New  York,  '56. 
Wm.  Krueger,  Iowa,  '69. 
V.  A.  Markle,  Canada,  '68. 

R.  R.  Tingley,  New  Jersey,  '68. 
Laurena  Tingley,  New  York,  '68. 
Jackson  Johnson,  Tennessee,  '69. 

F.  R.  Denton,  Ohio,  '67. 
W.  M.  Seeley,  Illinois,  '73. 
S.  G.  Owen,  Ohio,  '70. 
Thos.  Carr,  Ireland,  '74. 

W.  C.  Spencer,  Vermont.  '69. 

Frank  Chafi'ee,  Ohio,  '73. 

A.  N.  Burd,  Pennsylvania,  '65. 


OLD    SETTLERS    ASSOCIATION. 


353 


•Cyrus  Carter,  Ohio,  '65. 

<jeorge  Wornholz,  Germany,  'fiS. 

S.W.  Gettier,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 

S.  J.  Douglass,  New  York,  '75. 

John  Thompson,  England,  '71. 

F.  C.  Zehrung,  Iowa,  '74. 

Palmer  Way,  Pennsylvania,  '68. 

<jt.  M.  Lambertson,  Indiana,  '74. 

J.  D.  Macfarland,  Pennsylvania,  "71. 

M.  F.  McWilliams,  Ohio  '69. 

R.  Wallingford,  Ohio,  '58. 

Jerome  Shamp,  Ohio,  '66. 

J.  D.  Monell,  New  York,  '68. 

D.  E.  Bomgardner,  Pennsylvania,  '70. 

W.  C.  Rohde,  Germany,  '74. 

li.  Barr,  Europe,  '74. 

O.  N.  Humphrey,  Ohio,  '69. 

John  Sheedy,  Ireland,  '70. 

T.  J.  Noonan,  Missouri,  '70. 

J.  J.  Lichty,  Pennsylvania,  '73. 

S.  P.  Ritchy,  Kentucky,  '71. 

■G.  H.  Simmons,  England,  '74. 

€.  D.  Jewett,  New  York,  '71. 

H.  W.  Keel,  Germany,  '66. 

P.  H.  Sudduth,  Ohio,  '66. 

Amasa  Cobb,  Illinois,  '69. 

<T.  S.  Foxworthy,  Indiana,  '74. 

S.  B.  Pound,  New  York,  '61.      - 

P.  E.  Beardsley,  New  York,  '71. 

Nellie  M.  Beardsley,  Iowa,  '71. 

J.  P.  Beardsley,  Nebraska,  '74. 

W.  A.  Doggett,  Massachusetts,  '75. 

■G.  W.  Lee,  Illinois,  '74. 

L.  Stewart,  Pennsylvania,  '68. 

•G.  B.  Skinner,  Connecticut,  '70. 

L.  C.  Pace,  Virginia,  '75. 

H.  C.  Meadows,  West  Virginia,  '70. 

W.  W.  Webster,  Ohio,  '69. 

L.  H.  Robbins,  Illinois,  '69. 

T.  W.  Lowrey,  Illinois,  '71. 

F.  W.  Krone,  Germany,  '69. 

H.  A.  Poston,  Virginia,  '75. 

J.  A.  Wallingford,  Ohio,  '54. 

David  May,  France,  '69. 

C.  F.  Damrow,  Indiana,  '68. 
Oeo.  Leavitt,  England,  '70. 

L.  J.  Bumstead,  Connecticut,  '71. 

D.  N.  Syford,  Pennsylvania,  '74. 


M.  L.  Trester,  Indiana,  '69. 
J.  O.  Carter,  Ohio,  '72. 
J.  H.  Harley,  Nova  Scotia,  '71. 
J.  H.  Barrett,  Vermont,  '70. 
Jacob  Rocke,  Germany,  '69. 
W.  S.  Latta,  Pennsylvania,  '7.'J. 
J.  C.  McBride,  Ohio,  '74. 

D.  B.  Howard,  Indiana,  '74. 
W.  M.  Leonard,  Illinois,  '74. 
M.  B.  Cheney,  New  York,  '69. 
O.  C.  Bell,  Indiana,  '7;>. 

J.  J.  Deck,  Wi.sconsin,  '68. 

W.  C.  Griffith,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 

T.  M.  Marquett,  Ohio,  '74. 

F.  M.  Hall,  Illinois,  '76. 

A.  J.  Guthridge,  Ohio,  '68. 

Lewis  Gregory,  Connecticut,  '75. 

W.  A.  Cadman,  Illinois,  '59. 

E.  Hallett,  Massachusetts,  '71. 
H.  J.  By  am.  New  York,  '70. 
J.  R.  Webster,  New  York,  '69. 

D.  G.  Courtney,  New  York,  '74. 
S.  M.  Melick,  New  Jersey,  '70. 
J.  H.  McMurtry,  Indiana,  '71. 
C.  E.  Loomis,  New  York,  '71. 
W.  E.  Stewart,  Indiana,  '60. 

T.  H.  McGahey,  Pennsylvania,  '72. 
J.  J.  Imhoif,  Pennsylvania,  '72. 
Eugene  Woerner,  Germany,  '71. 
H.  A.  Ensign,  Iowa,  '70. 

A.  D.  Baker,  Ohio,  '74. 

M.  E.  Chevront,  Vigirnia,  '72. 

E.  P.  Childe,  New  York,  '75. 
J.  P.  Lyons,  New  York,  '74. 
Wm.  Brokelmeyer,  Germany,  '74. 
J.  T.  Beach,  Ohio,  '68. 

B.  Ringer,  Ohio,  '68. 
A.  Bolar,  Ohio,  '68. 

Carl  Funke,  Germany,  '68. 

C.  Wisner,  Holland,  '68. 
Charles  Philpott,  Nebraska,  '75. 
H.  D.  Pierson,  Indiana,  '68. 
Ed.  Franklin,  Ohio,  '72. 

John  Franklin,  Ohio,  '72. 

Flora  Frost  Snell,  Iowa,  "68. 

Mrs.  C.  Paine,  England,  '7:5. 

S.  C.  F.  McKesson,  Illinois.  '67. 

S.  W.  McKesson,  Pennsylvania,  '67. 


354 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


E.  Eisler,  Germany,  '73. 
Almon  Tower,  Minnesota,  "68. 
—  Waltemade,  Germany,  71. 
John  Gieser,  Germauj',  '69. 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Martin,  England,  '71. 
S.  W.  Knight,  Ohio,  '74. 
H.  C.  Foster,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 
John  Burke,  Ireland,  '70. 

D.  W.  Huff,  Michigan,  '70. 
Wm.  Hogan,  Illinois,  '70. 

Theo.  Benninghoff,  Pennsylvania,  '69. 
T.  J.  Crawford,  Ohio,  '66. 
W.  T.  Shuckman,  Pennsylvania,  '70. 
Wm.  Wilson,  Massachusetts,  '71. 
B.  H.  Hollister,  New  York,  '73. 
A.  Ward,  Maryland,  '69. 
James  Brown,  Kentucky,  '72. 
George  Bosselman,  Germany,  '72. 
Mary  G.  Cochran.  Ohio,  '67. 

E.  P.  Beecher,  New  York,  '69. 
Wm.  Wilson,  England,  '78. 
G.  H.  Exley,  England,  '71. 

J.  Burkendorf,  Missouri,  '72. 
Zack  Hammel,  Ohio,  '71. 
L.  Leavitt,  Ohio,  '71. 
Howard  W.  Caldwell,  Ohio.  '74. 
Allen  Barber,  Rhode  Island,  '73. 

D.  A.  Gilbert,  New  York,  '72. 

Mrs.  H.  A.  Tuttle,  Massachusetts,  '71. 
Mrs.  A.  C.  Clark,  Illinois,  '71. 
George  C.  Spencer,  England,  '71. 

E.  E.  Gillespie,  Nebraska,  '69. 
Charles  F.  Jeers,  Germany,  '74. 
Manuil  Davey,  Illinois,  '64. 

A.  Hitchcock,  Canada,'  70. 
Mrs.  Duke  Beal,  New  York,  '75. 
Anthonj"^  Gregg,  New  York,  '71. 
C.  W.  Pierce,  New  York,  '71. 
C.  S.  Cadwallader,  Ohio,  '66. 
W.  J.  Weller,  Ohio,  '69. 
W.  L.  Hermance,  Nebraska,  '74. 
C.  C.  Waldo,  New  York,  '75. 
Isaac  Oppenheimer,  Germany,  '70. 
Kev.  D.  Kinney,  Oliio,  '71. 
Henry  Veith,  Germany,  '69. 
Mrs.  H.  Veith,  Germany,  "72. 
Katie  Veith,  Lincoln,  "74. 
Henry  Veith  jr,  Lincoln,  '72. 


Mrs.  J.  C.  Johnston,  New  York,  '75_ 

John  F.  Wittstruck,  Illinois,  '70. 

H.  H.  Leavitt,  Missouri,  "74. 

Oren  Snyder,  Wisconsin,  '62. 

Major  Moore,  North  Carolina,  '74, 

John  G.  Stine,  New  Jersey,  '68. 

George  Seifert,  Germany,  '72. 

Pat  McGerr,  Ireland,  '69. 

R.  J.  Campbell,  Ohio,  '72. 

Sam  Arbuckle,  Illinois,  '75. 

Celestine  Theibeaut,  France,  '71, 

G.  H.  Butler,  England,  '71. 

R.  H.  Oakey,  New  York,  '70. 

Andrew  Bayless,  Tennessee,  '72. 

W.  P.  Phillips,  Ohio,  '71. 

N.  S.  Harwood,  Michigan,  '71. 

P.  J.  Grant,  Ireland,  '69. 

Charles  W.  Woodward,  Iowa,  '74, 

J.  F.  Egger,  Switzerland,  '71. 

Wm.  B.  Harlow,  New  York,  '72. 

Mrs.  Jennie  May,  New  York,  '67. 

H.  T.  Davis,  Ohio,  '67. 

G.  H.  Augdin,  West  Virginia,  '75, 

J.  P.  Munson,  Kentucky,  ^66. 

John  Naderhoff,  Illinois,  '70. 

James  Giles,  England,  '69. 

E.  S.  Hudson,  England,  '69. 

Solomon  Kirk,  Tennessee,  '57. 

W.  E.  Bates,  Michigan,  '74. 

John  Lemke,  Wisconsin,  '59. 

S.  Westerfield,  Missouri,  '72. 

G.  W.  Pleasant,  North  Carolina,  '74. 

John  Gesler,  Iowa,  '68. 

Joel  N.  Converse,  Ohio,  '70. 

S.  J.  Dobson, ,  '71. 

M.  W.  Griswold,  New  York,  '69. 

Herman  M.  Reeves,  New  York,  '70, 

Dr.  W.  Queen  '60. 

W.  J.  Knowlton,  '69. 

Henry  Waterman,  '70. 

Wm.  Robertson,  '71. 

Myron  Tower,  '68. 

W.  W.  Carder,  '67. 

Thomas  Hornby,  '74. 

W.  Smith,  '70. 

A.  L.  Pound, '66. 

G.  C.  Hickox,  '72. 

J.  J.  Hunt,  69. 


OLD  settlers'  association. 


355 


p.  H.  Cooper  '65. 
John  Hermance,  '72. 
L.  W.  Billingsley,  '69. 
N.  Carpenter.  '69. 
F.  H.  Bohanan,  '68. 
D.  A.  Cline,  '70. 
T.  R.  Burling,  '68. 
John  W.  Crist,  '7L 
Isaac  Johnson,  '71. 
W.  W.  English,  "71. 
M.  D.  Tiffany,  '70. 
Wm.  M.  McLaughlin, 
John  Morrison,  '69. 
J.  L.  McConuell,  '58. 
C.  Rellar,  '69. 
John  Dee,  '56. 
Thomas  Maloy,  '67. 


'68. 


Michael  Noonan,  '69. 

H.  H.  Wilson,  '73. 

J.  P.  Hebard,  Connecticut,  '()9. 

E.  W.  Rykert,  '67. 

Levi  Snell,  '69. 

John  W.  Prey,  ".56. 

E.  G.  Clements,  '69. 

Alexander  Buchanan. 

C.  H.  Gere. 
George  Gardner. 
L.  J.  Byer. 

W.  W.  Holmes. 
Louis  Helmer. 

D.  J.  Hunt. 

J.  A.  Leonard. 
J.  F.  Erecson. 
Ira  J.  Hunt. 


As  an  interesting  addendum  to  the  foregoing  roster  of  the  okl  set- 
tlers, Mr.  T.  H.  Hyde,  editor  and  founder  of  the  Lincohi  Daily  News^ 
on  June  20,  1889,  printed  a  list  of  the  business  and  professional  men 
of  the  city  who  were  engaged  here  prior  to  1875,  and  still  so  continue. 
This  list  is  as  follows : 


Rev.  H.  T.  Davis,  first  Methodist  min- 
ister. 
L.  K.  Holmes,  manufacturer  of  brick. 
J.  B.  &  E.  L.  Trickey,  watchmakers  and 

jewelers. 
Leopold  Barr,  same. 
Bohanan  Brothers,  meat  market,  livery, 

and  sale  stables,  hacks,  omnibusses, 

etc. 
Wm.  Hyatt  and  Frank  Rawlins,  same. 
W.  H.  Brown,  W.  J.  Turner,  J.  H.  Har- 

ley,  druggists. 
W.  N.  Rehlaender,  pharmacist. 
J.  &  D.  Newman,  dry  goods. 
Fred   Schmidt,  dry  goods  and   general 

merchandise. 
L.  H.  Robbins,  M.  D. 
James  Ledwith,  grocer. 
Wm.  D.  Gulick,  baker  and  grocer. 
Henry  Veith,  baker  and  grocer. 
Wm.  Harlow,  baker  and  dealer  in  fancy 

groceries. 
Charles  Spicer,  baker. 


J.  A.  Bailey,  house  painter  and  decora- 
tor. 

Humphrey  Brothers,  farm  implements 
and  hardware. 

Raymond  Brothers,  wholesale  grocers. 

A.  S.  Godfrey,  C.  C.  Munson,  lumber. 

J.  W.  Hedges,  founder. 

State  Journal,  C.  H.  Gere,  editor;  H.  D. 
Hathaway,  business  manager;  A.  H. 
Mendenhall,  superintendent  mechan- 
ical department. 

H.  W.  Hardy,  furniture. 

A.  E.  Hargreaves,  retail  grocer  in  1875 
to  wholesale  in  1878. 

E.  G.  Clements,  photography. 
S.  H.  King,  dental  surgeon. 

F.  H.  Hohmann  &  Sons,  music,  musical 
instruments  and  teaching. 

A.M.  Davis,  carpets,  rags,  mattings. cur- 
tains, etc. 

P.  H.  Cooper,  ice. 

A.  C.  Zeimer,  passenger  and  ticket  agent 
B.  &  M. 


35(3 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    Ll^X"OLN. 


D.  L.  Peckhani,  L.  J.  Byer,  Sam  Mc- 
Cord,  carpenters  and  contractors. 

J.  J.  Butler,  architect  and  builder. 

J.  P.  Lantz,  J.  F.  Lansing,  real  estate 
and  insurance. 

J.  H.  McMurtry,  same. 

J.  H.  Wood  worth,  saddlery  manufac- 
turer. 

S.  C.  Elliott,  crockery,  glassware,  etc. 

J.  E.  Philpott,  S.  B.  Pound,  C.  C.  Burr, 
S.  J.  Tuttle,  Harwood  &  Ames,  J.  H. 
Foxworthy,  T.  M.  Marquett,  L.  W. 
Billingsley  T.  F.  Barnes,  W.  J.  Lamb, 
attorneys. 


R.  L.  Smith,  machinist. 

David  May,  A.  Hurlbut,  clothiers. 

John  Morrison,  John  McWhinnie,  and 
C.  F.  Damrow,  merchant  tailors. 

T.  W.  Lowrey,  grain  elevator,  flouring 
mills. 

R.  C.  Manley,  fruit,  cigars,  etc. 

Louie  Meyer,  dry  goods. 

E.  T.  Roberts,  undertaker. 

Geo.  Seifert  and  George  E.  Fischer,  har- 
ness and  saddlery. 

J.  A.  Buckstaff,  lumber. 

Jo.seph  Whittman,  harness. 


Thi.s  list  will  be  exceedingly  small  in  ten  years  from  this  time,  but 
the  work  of  the  old  settlers  will  live  on  in  the  generations  to  come, 
wdien  not  a  man  now  on  the  roster  shall  live  to  answer  at  roll  call.    ' 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  357 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Lincoln  as  a  Business  Center— The  Gkowth  of  Hkr  Business  Interests 
FROM  Small  Beginnings — Mention  of  Some  of  the  Men  Who  Have 
Built  Up  the  City. 

From  the  wild  prairie  hamlet  of  1867,  possessing  less  than  fifty 
people,  Lincoln  has  grown  to  a  city  of  over  50,000  people  in  jnst 
twenty-two  years.  From  an  insignificant  settlement  in  a  wilderness, 
without  trade  or  developed  resources,  there  has  been  built  up  here  a 
property  worth  not  less  than  .^50,000,000,  the  State  Capitol  building, 
the  State  Penitentiary,  the  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  the  State  Univer- 
sity, the  Wesleyan  University,  the  Christian  University,  which  will 
open  this  fall,  and  city  school  property  valued  at  $500,000.  Out  of 
the  prairie  sod  has  grown  the  educational  center  of  the  Xorthwest, 
the  political  center  of  the  State,  and  the  most  remarkable  radial  rail- 
way center  west  of  the  Missouri  river,  comprising  four  great  systems, 
twelve  diverging  lines,  reaching  1,000  towns,  Avhose  trade  represents 
154,000  square  miles  of  territory. 

Here  now  are  operated  seventy  factories,  eighty  wholesale  houses,, 
eleven  banks.'  The  city  possesses  thirty-eight  churches,  twenty-six 
schools,  thirteen  temperance  societies,  five  public  libraries,  twenty-six 
newspapers  and  periodicals,  and  nearly  two  hundred  moral,  social,  fra- 
ternal, charitable,  and  similar  organizations.  The  State  Fair  has  been 
located  at  Lincoln  for  five  years.  The  city  possesses  strong  compa- 
nies for  supplying  illumination  by  gas,  the  arc,  and  also  incandescent 
electric  light.  It  has  eight  miles  of  paved  streets,  twenty  miles  of 
sanitary  sewers,  ten  miles  of  storm-water  sewers,  and  an  ample  system 
of  water-works.  It  possesses  five  street  car  companies,  one  of  which 
has  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  and  they  are  now  operating  thirty-one 
miles  of  track.  Among  its  great  enterprises  are  the  stock-yards  and 
two  large  packing-houses,  three  immense  paving-brick  works,  seven 
building-brick  works,  a  large  woolen  mill,  a  paper  mill,  a  cracker  fac- 
tory, two  planing  mills  and  wood-working  fiictories,  a  large  tannery, 
three  foundries,  and  extensive  stone-ciitting  works.    Lincoln  is  a  divi- 


358 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


sion  station  on  every  railroad  system  entering  here,  and  it  seems  prob- 
ablethat  the  great  Rock  Island  railroad  system  will  be  added  to  her 
railway  advantages  in  the  near  future. 

The  city  is  supplied  with  the  Western  Union  and  Pacific  Mutual 
Telegraph  companies,  wiio  employ  forty  operators,  and  have  through 
wires  to  all  cities.  Its  telephone  service  includes  over  600  local  instru- 
ments and  direct  connection  with  sixty  towns  in  Nebraska  and  sixty- 
six  in  Iowa.     Its  express  service  comprises  the  combined  facilities  of 


liEblDENCE   OF   FRANK   SHELDON. 


four  great  companies,  with  arrangements  to  bill  direct  over  70,000 
miles  of  road  without  transfer,  with  a  constantly  and  rapidly  increas- 
ing business.  It  also  possesses  an  organized  message  service  under 
the  name  of  Lincoln  District  Telegraph  Company.  This  was  organ- 
ized on  May  21,  1887,  and  possesses  a  very  strong  support  in  its 
board  of  stockholders,  who  are :  G.  W.  Holdrege,  J.  D.  Macfarland, 
C.  E.  Yates,  J.  McConniff,  C.  Thompson,  E.  E.  Brown,  John  R. 
Clark,  R.  H.  Oakley,  George  W.  Bonnell,  J.  J.  Dickey,  L.  H.  Korty, 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS    CENTEK.  359 

and  Charles  G.  Burton.  Mr.  Burton  is  Secretary  and  ISraiinjrer.  This 
company's  office  is  at  the  southwest  corner  of  O  and  Tenth  streets.  It 
furnishes  messengers  and  hacks  at  all  hours,  day  and  night;  delivers 
trunks,  and  distributes  advertising  matter  and  invitations,  and  pro- 
vides night  watchmen. 

The  internal  improvements  made  in  the  city  in  1888  reached  the 
grand  aggregate  of  ^3,287,418,  including  the  erection  of  ],00()  resi- 
dences at  a  cost  of  over  a  million  dollars.  The  j(jbbing  business  ad- 
vanced over  twenty-five  per  cent  during  the  past  }car.  Over  (jOO 
traveling  men  now  reside  here.  The  growth  of  the  city  for  1889  is 
more  solid  and  extensive  than  ever  before,  many  costly  brick  blocks, 
residences,  and  other  improvements,  being  in  process  of  construction, 
including  a  county  court-house  to  cost  $200,000,  a  new  city  well  and 
pumping  station,  and  two  new  houses  for  fire  companies,  witli  addi- 
tional costly  fire  apparatus. 

But  while  the  city  has  grown  so  rapidly,  it  has  been  the  result, 
mainly,  of  the  efforts  of  those  men  who  from  the  early  days  evinced 
their  faith  in  the  city  and  in  its  future  development  by  their  acts,  and 
who,  through  months  and  years  of  depression,  disappointment,  and 
discouragement,  never  lost  their  nerve,  but  kept  the  future  always  in 
view,  and  spoke  words  of  encouragement  to  those  who  were  hesitating 
whether  to  make  Lincoln  their  home.  These  men  —  most  of  them, 
at  least — have  been  amply  rewarded  for  their  faith,  and  mention  of 
a  few  of  them  will  not  be  out  of  place  in  a  work  dealing  with  the 
founding;  and  orowth  of  the  city. 

Hon.  Isaac  M.  Eaymond,  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Raymond 
Brothers  &  Co.,  wholesale  grocers,  is  one  of  the  most  able  and  suc- 
-cessful  business  men  of  Lincoln,  and  one  Avhose  work  is  closely 
identified  wath  the  city's  progress  for  eighteen  years. 

His  father  was  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Raymond,  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  at  Niskayuna,  N.  Y.,  and  was  a  graduate  of  both 
Yale  College  and  Rutger's  Theological  Seminary,  New  Jersey.  He 
<;ontinued  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Niskayuna  for  sixteen  years, 
where  he  was  very  highly  esteemed,  both  personally  and  as  an  able 
minister,  declining,  in  the  meantime,  frequent  calls  to  city  churches 
at  a  hio-her  salary.     Here  seven  of  his  nine  children  were  born. 

The  mother  of  I.  M.  Raymond  was  born  in  Passaic  county,  New 


360 


HISTORY    OF   THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


Jersey.  She  was  a  woman  of  positive  views  and  earnest  character^ 
and  sought  to  impress  the  vahie  of  correct  principles  upon  her 
children. 

I.  M.  Raymond  Avas  born  at  Niskayuna,  Schenectady  county,  New 
York,  on  the  3d  of  May,  1842.  He  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation, and  then  spent  one  term  in  the  Jonesville  Academy,  Saratoga 
county,  New  York,  and  a  term  at  the  Chittenango  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, and  at  this  date  closed  his  seventeenth  year.     He  then  taught 


HON.  I.   M.   RAYMOND. 


two  terms  of  country  school  in  Scoharie  county,  devoting  about  a 
year  to  this  employment.  He  then  removed  to  Waterloo,  loAva,. 
where  he  worked  on  a  farm  for  six  months,  and  then  obtained  a 
clerkship  in  the  grocery  store  of  his  elder  brothers,  at  Waterloo.  He 
worked  hard  from  18G1  to  ISHo  in  this  position,  and  then  went  to 
Waverly,  Iowa,  and  took  the  management  of  a  grocery  store  there, 
owned  by  his  brothers.  AVhile  in  Waverly  he  held  his  first  political 
office,  being  a  member  of  the  city  council.  He  managed  the  store  at 
Waverly  until  November,  1871,  and  then  removed  to   I^incoln,  Ne- 


LINCOLN    x\S    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  361 

braska,  and  established  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  IJayinoiid 
Bros.  &  Co.,  of  which  he  has  ever  since  been  the  aljlc  inanaoei-,  and 
which  has  been  remarkably  successfnl. 

In  1886  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  the  Twentieth 
Session  of  the  Nebraska  Legislatuie,  and  was  the  author  of  the  Pri- 
mary Election  Law,  now  in  operation,  a  very  important  and  satis- 
factory measure,  as  it  is  in  accordance  Avith  the  verv  fundamental 
principles  of  republican  government,  allowing  all  the  peo])le  to  nom- 
inate candidates,  instead  of  a  few  schemers. 

In  1887  it  became  a  very  practical  question  whether  the  jobbino- 
trade  of  Lincoln,  or  any  interior  point  in  Nebraska,  could  loiKr  sur- 
vive the  fatal  effects  of  the  discriminations  in  freights,  founded  upon 
the  Missouri  river,  where  rates  were  adjusted  at  the  expense  of  Ne- 
braska, without  regard  to  the  length  of  haul.  This  condition  of 
freight  charges  threatened  to  put  a  stop  to  the  commercial  groAvth  of 
Lincoln,  and  to  require  Nebraska  generally  to  pay  a  ruinous  tribute 
to  the  Missouri  river  railway  combination  that  would  continue  to 
sap  the  prosperity  of  the  State,  as  it  had  done  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Raymond  began  to  agitate  the  necessity  of  the  people  of  Lin- 
coln rising  and  making  a  most  determined  resistance  to  these  oppres- 
sive discriminations,  and  finally  wrote  a  strong  letter,  explaining  to 
the  people  in  clear  and  forcible  terms  how  dangerous  it  would  be  to 
longer  continue  to  suffer  the  unfair  freight  tariffs  to  retard  and  even 
threaten  the  life  of  the  city's  commerce.  This  letter  was  published 
in  the  daily  papers  of  Lincoln,  and  led  up  to  the  reorganization  of 
what  had  become  a  totally  dormant  Board  of  Trade,  and  later  to  the 
organization  of  a  Freigiit  Bureau  in  connection  with  the  Board  of 
Trade,  designed  to  study  the  problem  of  railway  freight  charges,  and 
devise  such  plans  as  would  afford  substantial  relief. 

In  this  great  contest  Mr.  Baymond  was  the  main  inspiration  and  di- 
recting force,  and  so  skillfully,  wisely,  and  courageously,  was  the  cause 
.pressed  that  the  roads  finally  decided  that  it  would  be  wise  policy  for 
them  to  yield,  and  place  Lincoln  on  the  same  freight-tariff'  footing  as 
the  Missouri  river  towns.  This  was  the  first  positive  fracture  made  in 
the  great  Missouri  river  pool,  one  of  the  most  powerful  comhinatinns 
of  capital  that  ever  existed  on  this  continent.  The  value  to  the  pub- 
lic of  the  equitable  economic  principles  of  the  concessions  secured  by 
the  Lincoln  Board  of  Trade,  not  only  for  Nebraska  but  the  entire 
24 


362  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

A\'est,  cannot  well  be  over-estimated.  And  the  splendid  results  fol- 
lowino-  that  contest  may  be  attributed  to  I.  M.  Raymond  more  than 
to  any  other  man  ;  in  fact,  without  his  aid  it  is  doul)tful  if  success  would 
have  crowned  the  contest. 

As  a  result  of  the  great  service  he  had  rendered  the  public,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  State  Senate  in  1888  almost  without  opposition, 
and  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  proved  a  very  useful  member  of 
the  Legislature,  his  eminent  business  ability  being  recognized  in  his 
api)ointment  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  Ways, 
and  Means,  in  the  Senate,  the  most  important  committee  in  the  gift  of 
that  body.  He  introduced  and  secured  the  passage  of  Raymond's  Bank- 
ing Bill,  a  measure  which  thoroughly  and  judiciously  placed  neces- 
sary restrictions  upon  bankers  of  the  State,  in  the  interest  of  a  higher 
public  credit,  and  for  a  better  defense  of  depositors.  This  was  one  of 
the  most  important  and  valuable  measures  enacted  by  the  twenty-first 
session  of  the  Legislature. 

Mr.  Raymond  is  a  business  man  of  a  high  order  of  ability.  He  has 
managed  the  large  wholesale  grocery  business  of  Raymond  Bros.  & 
Co.  with  eminent  success,  and  that  house  is  one  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous in  the  State.  In  1882  Mr.  Raymond  assisted  to  organize  the 
Exchange  National  Bank  of  Hastings,  of  which  he  was  made  presi- 
dent and  still  continues  to  hold  that  position.  During  the  spring  of 
1889  he  became  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  American  Exchange 
National  Bank,  of  Lincoln,  of  which  he  was  also  made  President,  and 
to  the  affairs  of  which  he  gives  a  considerable  share  of  his  personal 
attention.  He  is  also  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Lincoln  Stock 
Yards,  and  a  member  of  the  Lincoln  Packing  and  Provision  Com- 
pany. In  fact,  he  is  an  enterprising  and  valuable  citizen  of  the  city 
and  State,  always  ready  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  really  impor- 
tant and  deserving  public  enterprises. 

Among  the  business  men  of  Lincoln  there  are  none  more  thoroughly 
representative  of  the  growth  and  possibilities  of  the  great  West  than  A. 
E.  Hargrcaves,  the  head  of  the  extensive  wholesale  house  of  Har- 
greaves  Bros.  He  is  a  thoroughly  representative  Lincoln  man  as 
well,  having  begun  his  business  career  in  Lincoln  when  the  city  was 
in  its  infancy,  and  kept  pace  with  its  advancement,  growing  from  a 
poorly-paid  clerk  to  the  head  of  a  firm  doing  a  million  dollars'  worth 


LINCOLN   AS    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  263 

of  business  annually,  Avhile  Lincoln  has  developed  from  a  hainlct  to 
a  magnificent  city  of  more  than  fifty  thousand  people. 

Mr.  Hargreaves  was  born  in  the  world's  metropolis,  London,  in 
1853.  His  father,  Abraham  Hargreaves,  was  a  contractor,  and  his 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Elizabeth  Ilingworth. 

As  he  entered  commercial  life  when  only  eleven  vears  old,  his  edu- 
cation was  confined  to  the  instruction  received  at  an  early  age  in  the 
common  schools.  But  his  business  education  was  thorough,  and  when 
he  left  England,  in  1872,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  new  world,  he 
knew  more  about  the  details  of  business  than  many  men  of  twice  his 
age.  At  this  time  Nebraska  was  being  extensively  advertised  in  En- 
gland by  the  Land  Commissioners  of  the  B.  (S:  M.  railroad,  and  with 
others  Mr.  Hargreaves  sailed  from  England  direct  for  l>incoln. 

The  journey  was  an  uneventful  one,  and  on  August  12,  1872,  Mr. 
Hargreaves  found  himself  at  Pacific  Junction.  That  his  business  ca- 
reer in  Nebraska  was  begun  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  is  evidenced 
by  his  statement  that  at  Pacific  Junction  he  found  himself  in  that  con- 
dition which  is  designated  in  the  Western  vernacular  by  the  expressive 
word,  ''strapped,"  and  he  was  compelled  to  negotiate  a  loan  of  five 
dollars  before  he  was  able  to  continue  his  journey  to  Lincoln,  Upon 
his  arrival  at  Lincoln  he  was  greatly  discouraged.  The  town  was  a 
mere  hamlet;  there  was  little  business  of  any  kind,  and  rcnuuierative 
employment  was  an  unknown  boon.  If  he  had  had  the  means  at  this 
time  he  would  have  returned  to  England.  Not  having  the  means, 
however,  with  which  to  get  away,  he  made  the  most  of  the  circum- 
stances, and  secured  a  job  at  the  fair  grounds  as  a  sort  of  general 
roustabout. 

After  working  in  various. capacities  on  a  salary  for  several  years, 
Mr.  Hargreaves  decided  to  go  into  business  for  himself,  and  in  1875 
opened  up  a  peanut  stand  on  the  south  side  of  O  street,  between  Elev- 
enth and  Twelfth  streets.  He  was  still  anxious  to  go  back  to  En- 
gland at  that  time,  but  a  kind  fortune,  disguised  in  the  habiliments  of 
poverty,  prevented.  Careful  and  industrious,  he  found  his  business 
increasing  from  year  to  year.  In  1876  he  moved  into  the  next  bloi'k 
west,  when  he  added  books  and  stationery  to  his  business. 

The  fruit  and  confectionery  business  was  evidently  the  one  for  w  hicii 
he  had  a  peculiar  adaptation,  and  the  one  which  furnishal  the  widest 
field.     This  grew  so  rapidly  that  in  1879  he  decided  to  go  into  the 


364 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 


wholesale  trade,  and  selling  out  his  book  and  stationery  business  to 
Clason  &  Fletcher,  erected  a  two-story  building  at  1028  P  street,  and 
established  a  wholesale  fruit  and  confectionery  house.  As  the  devel- 
opment of  the  country  tributary  to  Lincoln  brought  the  demand,  fancy 
groceries  were  added  to  the  trade,  and  the  firm  rapidly  became  one  of 
the  best  known  in  the  State. 

The  business  increased  so  rapidly  that  the  firm  found  it  imperative 
upon  them  to  find  more  commodious  quarters  and  better  facilities  for 
doing  business.     Accordingly  in  1886  they  bought  the  large  three- 


A.   E.   HAKGKEAVK.S. 


story-and-basement  building  at  the  corner  of  Eighth  and  O  streets. 
The  abundant  room  and  ample  track  facilities  here  gave  opportunity 
for  extending  the  business  indefinitely.  A  straight  line  of  staple 
and  fancy  groceries  was  put  in,  and  a  jobbing  business  in  these 
goods  was  built  up  scarcely  second  to  any  in  the  city.  The  fruit  de- 
partment was  continued  under  the  management  of  Mr.  W.  B.  Har- 
greaves,  Mr.  Plargreaves's  younger  brother,  who  was  given  an  interest 
in  the  business  in  1882.  The  house  is  still  one  of  the  largest  fruit- 
jobbing  houses  in  the  State.     In  1888  a  department  for  the  exclusive 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  365 

handliug  of  tea  and  cigars  was  established,  and  tlie  tea  department  is 
undoubtedly  the  largesit  west  of  Chicago.  The  business  of  the  lirni 
in  1889  will  amount  to  $1,000,000. 

In  1878,  Mr,  Hargreaves  was  married  to  Miss  Jennie  Blair,  of 
this  city,  and  now  has  a  family  of  three  children.  Always  at  the 
front  in  matters  of  public  enterprise,  liberal  in  the  treatment  af  his 
employes,  prompt,  and  courteous  in  all  his  business  relations,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  Mr.  Hargreaves's  present  popularity  and  prosperilv 
are  but  the  beginning  of  what  his  business  career  will  develop  in  the 
future. 

Joseph  J.  Imhoif  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  suc'cessful  l)u.-i- 
iiess  men  of  Lincoln,  a  representative  of  our  l)est  citizenship,  lb- 
was  born  in  Somerset  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  May  8,  l.s3o.  His 
father  was  Mr.  Joseph  Imhoff,  and  his  mother  ^Irs.  Catherine  llcfUcy- 
ImhoiF,  who  were  born  and  spent  their  lives  in  that  section  of  the 
Kevstone  State.  They  were  descended  from  (ierman  parentage,  an(.l 
inherited  the  sturdy,  industrious,  and  upright  characteristics  of  their 
race.  Joseph  Imhoif  was  engaged  in  managing  a  hotel  in  Somerset, 
Somerset  county,  Pennsylvania,  for  thirty-eight  years,  and  also  in 
farming,  in  both  of  which  pursuits  he  was  successful.  His  son, 
Joseph  J.  Imhoff,  was  the  sixth  of  eight  children,  and  spent  his 
childhood  and  youthful  years  among  the  hills  of  his  native  country, 
acquiring  a  common-school  education,  until  the  age  of  fourteen,  wheji 
he  began  his  mercantile  experience  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  of  general 
merchandise.  After  devoting  three  years  to  this  work,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  mechanical  pursuits,  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and 
followed  it  for  five  years. 

Then  he  decided  to  go  westward,  and  removed  to  Urbana,  Illinois, 
where  he  continued  to  follow  for  two  years  more  the  vocation  of  car- 
penter and  builder.  He  then  decided  to  seek  a  new  and  growing 
country,  and  located  in  Omaha,  in  1856.  Soon  afterward  he  settled 
in  Dakota  county,  and  engaged  in  the  business  of  cariicnter  and 
builder  for  a  couple  of  years,  building  thirty-seven  houses  diu-ingtliat 
time.  He  then  took  up  his  residence  in  Nebraska  City,  where  he 
engaged  again  in  the  mercantile  business.  AVhile  here  the  movement 
for  the  loration  of  the  State  Capital  at  Lincoln  was  developed,  and 
Mr.  Imhoff  became  one  of  the  original  syndicate  of  fifteen  who  came 


366  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

from  Nebraska  City,  and  stayed  the  uncertain  fortunes  of  the  venture 
by  assisting  to  bid  off  the  lots  at  the  appraised  value,  when  the  first 
sale  was  made  on  the  17th  to  the  22d  of  September,  1807.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  courage  of  these  men,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  capital  would  have  been  located  at  Lincoln.  Ex-Governor  Reed, 
now  of  Utah,  was  one  of  the  syndicate  at  the  sale,  and  remarked  that 
"the  people  must  be  d  —  d  fools  to  invest  their  money  in  the  wild 
prairie  lots ;  for  himself  he  would  not  give  !$500  for  the  whole  town 
site."  Mr.  Reed  relented,  however,  and  invested  $750  in  three  lots 
before  leaving  town. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Imhoff  removed  to  Lincoln,  and  for  a  year  was  occu- 
pied with  handling  general  merchandise,  and  in  a  general  trading  and 
real  estate  business,  which  was  lively  at  that  time.  In  September, 
1873,  he  bought  the  "Douglas  House,"  and  changed  the  name  to 
"The  Commercial  Hotel,"  which  he  conducted  with  great  success  for 
thirteen  years.  He  made  it  the  leading  hotel  in  Lincoln,  the  political 
head-quarters  of  Nebraska,  and  the  best-known  hostelry  in  the  State. 
He  enlarged  it  from  a  small  affair,  until  it  acquired  its  present  pro- 
portions of  108x150  feet,  and  three  stories  high.  He  then  sold  it  for 
$80,000. 

Mr.  Imhoff  has  been  a  promoter,  organizer,  and  manager,  of  many 
of  the  most  important  enterprises  of  the  city,  and  has  been  one  of  its 
most  liberal  benefactors.  He  is  always  cheerful  in  contributing 
largely  to  any  really  meritorious  project  for  the  public  welfare.  He 
has  ever  been  willing  to  assist  in  founding  and  building  up  enter- 
prises of  importance  to  Lincoln.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Union  Savings  Bank,  and  is  yet  a  principal  stockholder  and  di- 
rector. He  was  mainly  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Union  Stock  Yards,  was  at  one  time  Vice  President  of  the  company, 
and  is  still  a  stockholder.  He  M^as  a  moving  spirit  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Lincoln  Driving  Park  Association,  and  was  its  first  Pres- 
ident. He  finally  bought  the  park,  expended  $7,500  in  improving  it, 
and  then  sold  it  for  §75,000.  He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Lincoln  Street  Railway  Company,  the  first  line  in  the  city,  and  con- 
tinued President  of  the  company  until  its  sale  to  the  city  corporation. 
When  the  Rapid  Transit  Street  Railway  Company  was  organized,  Mr. 
Imhoff  also  became  a  leading  contributor  to  its  capital,  and  was  made 
President  of  the  company.     He  assisted  to  help  form  the  Lincoln 


368  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Electric  Light  Company,  whose  capital  is  $100,000,  and  has  con- 
tinued its  executive  officer  from  the  first.  These  facts  will  give  some 
idea  of  the  energy  and  activity  of  Mr.  Imhoif's  business  life. 

Among  the  benevolent  objects  for  the  city's  good,  in  which  he  has 
been  a  principal  helper,  may  be  mentioned  the  erection  of  the  city 
churches,  especially  St.  Paul  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  prominent 
member,  as  is  Mrs.  Imhoflf',  the  Wesleyan  University,  and  the  new 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building.  His  good  acts  are 
legion,  of  which  these  are  among  the  largest,  and  best  known.  It 
may  be  doubted  whether  any  man  has  done  more  for  the  commercial, 
financial,  charitable,  and  social  good  of  Lincoln  than  Mr.  Joseph  J. 
Inihoff. 

On  November  5,  1862,  Mr.  J.  J.  ImhofiP  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
E.  Rector,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sanford  S.  Rector,  of  Nebraska 
City.  Mrs.  Imhoff  was  born  in  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  and  her 
parents  still  reside  in  Nebraska  City  She  is  one  of  the  most  active 
and  useful  workers  in  the  Christian  enterprises  of  the  city,  and  their 
beautiful  home  at  the  southeast  corner  of  J  and  Twelfth  streets  is 
one  of  the  most  elegant,  and  at  the  same  time  most  hospitable,  in 
the  city.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Imhoff  are  four,  namely: 
Mr.  Charles  H.  Imhotf,  Cashier  of  the  Union  Savings  Bank;  Mr. 
Joseph  B.  Imhotf,  Superintendent  of  the  Lincoln  Electric  Light 
Company,  and  Misses  Ono  May  and  Hattie  J.  Imhoff,  residing  at 
home. 

Mr.  Louie  Meyer  is  one  of  Lincoln's  most  energetic,  successful,  and 
able  business  men  and  financiers.  From  a  small  beginning,  sixteen 
years  ago,  he  has  worked  his  way  steadily  upward,  in  the  face  of  ob- 
stacles and  discouragements,  until  he  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  exten- 
ive  wholesale  and  retail  business  in  general  merchandising,  which  he 
conducts  at  numbers  108  and  110  North  Tenth  street,  east  of  Govern- 
ment S<i[uare,  nnder  the  firm  name  of  L.  Meyer  &  Co.  Mr.  Meyer  is 
one  of  the  typical  men  of  success  in  the  city,  and  has  kept  pace  with  its 
growth  from  village  days  to  its  arrival  at  a  city  greatness. 

Mr.  Meyer  was  born  August  12,  1853,  near  Carlsbad,  Austria. 
Plis  father,  Dr.  David  Meyer,  was  then  a  physician  of  prominence  in 
that  locality,  and  since  has  accpiired  celebrity  owing  to  his  fifty-five 
years  of  practice,  and   to  \\\v.  fact  of  his  being  the  oldest  member  of 


LINCOLN    AS   A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  369 

his  profession  residing  in  the  empire  of  Anstria.  His  mother,  Mary 
Becker-Meyer,  was  a  lady  of  refinement  and  pleasing  social  dis^posi- 
tion,  highly  esteemed  by  the  people  of  her  ac(|iiaintance.  ]\Ir.  Merer 
is  the  fifth  of  the  eight  children  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Maiy  Meyer. 

Louie  Meyer  attended  the  schools  of  his  native  country  from  tlie 
age  of  five  years  to  that  of  fourteen,  and  was  industrious  and  ready  in 
acquiring  learning.  After  having  received  a  good,  ])iacti(:d  educa- 
tion, he  entered  a  store  in  the  town  of  Carlsbad,  and  s])ent  a  year  as 
a  clerk,  learning  the  business.  Then,  feeling  that  there  were  greater 
opportunities  in  the  United  States  than  in  his  native  land,  for  a  young 
man  of  courage  and  energy,  he  resolved  to  come  tq  America.  There- 
fore, he  sailed  for  the  shores  of  his  adopted  land  in  the  summer  of 
1870.  He  landed  at  New  York  and  proceeded  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
where  he  spent  four  or  five  months  with  relatives. 

Having  heard  of  the  fair  prospects  of  Jjincoln,  he  came  to  what 
was  then  a  very  youthful  and  struggling  capital,  in  January,  1871, 
and  engaged  with  the  merchants,  Rich  &  Oppenheimer,  as  a  clerk. 
He  performed  his  duties  faithfully  for  four  years  and  became  a  skill- 
ful salesman,  thoroughly  educated  in  his  line  of  business. 

Feeling  that  he  understood  the  lay  of  the  land,  and  having  some 
capital,  he  decided  to  engage  in  business  on  his  own  account,  and 
therefore  opened  a  grocery  store  in  1874,  when  about  twenty-one 
years  old,'  He  pushed  his  business  during  the  succeeding  three  years, 
and  his  trade  was  growing  steadily  and  surely  ;  but  the  flames  devouretl 
his  stock  and  store  in  March,  1877. 

His  characteristic  energy  and  resolution  was  here  manifested  in  a 
signal  degree.  Though  seriously  crippled  in  his  finances  by  the  mis- 
fortune he  had  just  passed  through,  he  did  not  hesitate  a  moment,  but 
immediately  began  to  rebuild  his  business  and  his  fortune,  and  has 
never  ceased  to  push  his  affairs  from  that  date  to  the  present  time 
with  all  the  vim  of  his  young  manhood.  The  rewards  of  his  patience, 
perseverance,  and  skill,  are  now  manifest  in  the  extensive  and  growing 
business  of  L.  Meyer  &  Co.,  and  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens  is  also 
fully  and  unreservedly  shown  in  various  ways.  He  add(Hl  dry  goods 
in  1880  and  now  does  an  extensive  jobbing  as  well  as  retail  business. 

For  two  years  Mr.  Meyer  served  as  treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
of  Lincoln,  a  very  difficult  position  to  fill  successfully,  and  it  is  safe 
to  sav  that  he  would  have  been  elected  again  had  he  not  declined  to 


370  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

serve.  His  management  of  the  affairs  of  tliis  office  was  able,  and 
his  energy  in  working  for  the  public  welfare  was  not  excelled,  if 
equaled,  by  any  other  man  in  the  city. 

In  fact,  Mr,  Meyer  is  rcognized  as  one  of  the  most  able  financiers 
and  safe  business  men  of  this  city,  and  ranks  among  Lincoln's  fore- 
most citizens  in  any  important  public  enterprise.  This  is  manifested 
in  various  ways,  one  of  which  is  his  active  connection  with  the  work 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  already  referred  to.  Another  was  his  election 
to  the  City  Council,  in  April,  1888,  from  his  ward,  the  Fifth,  Mayor 
Graham  has  placed  Mr,  Meyer  at  the  head  of  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  City  Council,  probably  the  most  difficult  place  to  fill  in  the  city 
government,  owing  to  the  constant  requirements  for  new  expenditures 
and  enlarged  credits,  growing  out  of  the  rapid  development  of  this 
young  and  expanding  metropolis.  Mr.  Meyer  has  proven  equal  to 
the  severe  tests  of  his  ability,  and  his  recommendations  always  receive 
respectful  attention  and  consideration.  Mr.  Meyer  ^vas  married  to 
Miss  Anna  Gunarson,  of  this  city,  a  lady  of  many  high  qualities  of 
mind  and  heart,  on  October  2,  1879.  Three  children  cheer  their 
home,  including  one  son,  Max  Meyer,  and  two  daughters,  Pauline 
and  Leah  Meyer.  They  are  among  the  most  bright  and  excellent 
young  people  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Meyer  and  Mrs.  Meyer  rank  among  the  leading  people  of  Lin- 
coln's social  circles,  and  justly  have  the  respect  of  the  entire  city. 

In  January,  1887,  Hon.  H.  T.  Clarke,  who  was  then  and  had  for 
years  been  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  enterprising  business  men 
of  Omaha,  one  of  the  branches  of  business  in  whieh  he  was  engaged 
being  wholesale  drugs,  concluded  that  Lincoln  offered  better  advan- 
tages for  the  wholesale  trade,  and  consequently  changed  his  place  of 
business  in  that  line  to  this  city. 

Foi'  the  accommodation  of  this  business  Mr.  Clarke  erected,  at 
the  corner  of  Eighth  and  P  streets,  a  magnificent  four-story  brick 
and  stone  building,  100  by  150  feet,  in  which  a  heavy  stock  of  drugs 
.was  placed,  and  business  commenced.  The  firm  of  the  H,  T.  Clarke 
Drug  Company  is  composed  of  the  following  gentlemen  :  Hon.  H. 
T.  Clarke,  John  C.  C:larke,  W.  E.  Clarke,  W.  C.  Mills,  and  Charles  J. 
Daubach,  all  gentlemen  of  business  experience  and  ability.  Ever 
since  the  opening  of  this  house  its  business  has  been  steadily  growing, 


372  HISTORY    OF    THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

until  now  it  amounts  to  more  than  a  half  million  per  year.     It  is  one 
of  the  institutions  of  whith  Lincoln  is  proud. 

Among  the  early  business  men  should  be  mentioned  Pflug  Bros.^ 
^lartin  and  Jacob,  who  were  merchants  here  in  1868  and  for  several 
years  later.     They  were  active  workers  for  the  good  of  the  city. 

The  work  of  Elder  J.  M.  Young,  W.  T.  Donovan,  Milton  Lang- 
don,  Seth  P.  Galey,  and  John  Cadman,  has  been  referred  to  elsewhere. 

No  man  deserves  more  credit  for  good  work  in  building  up  the 
moral  and  social  interests  of  the  city  than  Elder  Henry  T.  Davis,  now 
pastor  of  Trinity  M.  E.  church,  and  who  has  been  in  the  ministry  in 
this  county  longer  than  any  other  man  now  here.  His  brother,  Mr. 
A.  M.  Davis,  now  conducting  a  wholesale  and  retail  carpet  house  at 
1112  O  street,  has  for  many  years  aided  to  push  the  interests  of  the 
city  forward.  Mrs.  A.  M.  Davis  has  also  been  and  still  is  a  leader  in 
the  cause  of  charity  and  humanity. 

Messrs.  Austin  and  Oliver  N.  Humphrey,  of  the  Humphrey  Bros.  . 
Hardware  Company,  have  been  leading  builders  up  of  the  city  for 
twenty  years.  Dr.  H.  G.  Gilbert  established  a  drug  and  hardware 
store  at  101  North  Ninth  street  late  in  1867,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Hawley,  Gilbert  &  Co.  In  the  spring  of  1869  Humphrey  Bros, 
bought  the  hardware  interest  of  Mr.  Hawley,  and  in  the  fall  of  that 
year  bought  out  Dr.  Gilbert,  since  which  time  it  has  been  Humphrey 
Bros.,  and  the  Humphrey  Hardware  Company,  the  latter  company 
having  been  incorporated  in  1881,  when  C.  J.  Heffley  became  a  mem- 
ber. The  elegant  four-story  l)rick  block  at  101  and  103  North  Ninth 
street,  and  their  large  wholesale  and  retail  implement  and  hardware 
ti-ade,  attests  their  success.  They  are  ever  ready  to  aid  public  enter- 
prises, Mr.  Austin  Humphrey  being  a  pr6minent  officer  in  the  State 
Agricultural  Society  and  a  member  of  the  city  Board  of  Public  Works. 
Mrs.  O.  N.  Humphrey  is  a  prominent  worker  in  the  charities  an4 
social  progress  of  the  city. 

Bohanan  Brothers,  M.  G.  and  F.  H.,  have  been  active  builders  of 
the  city  from  pioneer  days,  having  been  leading  business  men  since 
1868.  Tliey  have  conducted  their  meat  market  at  937  O  street  since 
that  date,  and  their  livery  barn  at  221  South  Tenth  street  for  many 
years.  Their  brick  block,  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Tenth  and  N, 
is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  city.  It  was  built  in  1887,  and  forms  only 
a  part  of  their  jwssessions. 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS   CKNTER.  373 

T.  P.  Kennard  and  John  (iillespie  helped  fonnd  the  city,  and  liave 
■ever  been  aetive  in  bnilding  it  np,  Mr.  Kennard  now  l)ein<--  a  diictni- 
in  the  city  Board  of  Trade. 

Few  men  have  done  more  to  build  the  city  than  J.  J.  JUith-r,  who 
erected  the  first  brick  block  in  Lincoln,  and  who  has  built  more  blocks 
than  any  other  man  in  the  place,  Avith  one  or  two  exceptions.  He 
now  owns  two  brick  blocks,  and  has  commenced  the  erection  of  a 
third.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Irish  National  Leajrue, 
having  been  president  of  the  Lincoln  Branch. 

Fred  Funke,  builder  of  the  Funke  Opera  House,  James  J^edwith, 
proprietor  of  the  Ledwith  Block  at  P  and  Eleventh,  and  J.  L.  Mc- 
Connell,  have  contributed  to  the  material  prosperity  of  the  city. 

W.  H.  B.  Stout  is  one  of  the  largest  building  contractors  of  the 
State,  and  has  handled  very  extensive  business  interests  during  the 
past  seventeen  years.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Legis- 
lature in  1868,  from  Blair,  took  the  contract  to  build  the  State  Peni- 
tentiary in  1870,  in  connection  with  J.  M.  Jamison,  and  removed  to 
Lincoln  in  1871.  In  1877  he  became  the  lessee  of  the  State  Peni- 
tentiary for  six  years.  He  built  the  Burlington  passenger  depot,  the 
county  jail,  and  the  present  State  Capitol,  completing  the  latter  on 
the  first  of  the  present  year.  He  has  been  interested  in  other  hirge 
building  contracts,  and  is  now  engaged  in  making  paving  brick  and 
laying  the  same  on  the  streets  of  Lincoln,  Stout  c^-  liucUstaff  having 
contracts  for  several  districts.  Probably  no  man  has  done  more  for 
Lincoln  than  W.  H.  B.  Stout. 

Gran.  Ensign  is  a  pioneer  business  man,  having  been  in  the  livery 
and  transfer  business  here  since  1869,  and  been  very  successful.  His 
interests  have  grown  from  a  small  shed  back  of  the  Atwood  House 
on  Ninth  street,  to  the  large  brick  structure  at  215  to  221  South 
Eleventh. 

Raymond  Bros.  &  Co.,  wholesale  grocers,  established  in  Lincoln 
in  1872,  and  have  been  among  our  leading  business  men  ever  since. 
The  firm  consists  of  I.  M.  and  A.  S.  Raymond,  and  G.  H.  Clark, 
They  have  done  more  to  push  Lincoln  trade  into  new  territory,  and 
protect  Lincoln's  interests  against  railroad  discriminations,  than  any 
other  firm.  They  are  now  leading  capitalists  of  the  city,  and  i)rom- 
inent  in  pushing  its  interests.  Their  large  house  at  ()  and  Kighlh, 
does  an  immense  jobbing  trade. 


374  HISTORY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    LINCOLN'. 

In  this  connection  .shonkl  be  mentioned  Pliimmer,  Perry  &  Co., 
wholesale  grocers,  at  109-113  North  Ninth  street.  This  firm  is  com- 
posed of  Eli  Plummer,  R.  A.  Perry,  and  John  Fitzgerald,  and  is 
very  popular  and  successful.  The  gentlemen  composing  this  firm  arfr 
among  the  most  liberal  and  enterprising  in  Lincoln,  always  ready  to- 
contribute  aid  to  the  success  of  the  city.  Mr.  Plnmmer  is  a  leading- 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

H.  P.  Lau  &  Co.,  wholesale  grocers,  in  the  Clarke  Block,  on  the 
corner  of  Eighth  and  P  streets,  do  a  growing  -wholesale  jobbing  trade,, 
and  deserve  an  honorable  place  in  the  list  of  our  large  business  houses^ 
Mr.  Lau  is  a  leading  capitalist  of  our  city. 

No  jobbing  house  has  been  more  successful,  all  things  considered, 
tlian  the  wholesale  grocery  of  Hargreaves  Bros.,  on  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  ()  and  Eighth  streets.  The  firm  is  composed  of  A.  E.  and  W. 
B.  Hargreaves,  and  their  business  was  begun  in  1874,  with  a  capital 
of  S28.  Now  they  have  a  large  brick  block  there,  and  do  an  exten- 
sive business.  They  are  among  the  most  enterprising  of  our  citizens 
in  protecting  the  welfare  of  the  city. 

J.  A.  Buckstaif,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Badger  Lumber 
Company,  is  one  of  the  foremost  business  men  of  Lincoln.  He  con- 
ducts a  large  lumber  trade,  is  engaged  in  manufacturing  paving  brick, 
and  is  connected  with  extensive  paving  contracts.  He  is  ever  liberal 
and  enterprising  in  aiding  to  build  the  city. 

L.  AV.  Billingsley  is  a  pioneer  attorney  of  the  city,  has  built  up  a. 
large  practice,  and  is  now  senior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Billings- 
lev  &  "Woodward.  His  elegant  brick  block  at  210  South  Eleventh 
street  is  one  of  the  fine  structures  of  the  city.  He  has  been  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  business  and  growth  of  the  city  for  twenty 
years,  having  served  in  the  City  Council  repeatedly. 

C.  E.  Montgomery,  whose  business  block  adjoins  the  Billingsley 
block,  at  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  N  streets,  is  one  of  our  most  en- 
terprising citizens.  Examples  of  his  help  in  building  up  Lincoln  are 
seen  in  his  block  just  referred  to,  Odell's  restaurant  next  east,  and  the 
elegant  livery  stabk;  erected  at  a  cost  of  $16,000  on  M  street,  south 
side,  between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth. 

T.  H.  Hyde,  of  the  Lincoln  Ncrcs  Company,  is  a  pioneer  in  the 
city,  and  no  one  loves  to  lend  encouragement  to  the  city's  growth 
better  than  he. 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  ;375 

Messrs.  C  H.  Gere  and  H.  D.  Hathaway,  of  the  Stair  JomiKi/,  have 
been  closely  identified  with  nearly  every  inijjortant  step  in  the  city's 
development,  almost  from  its  location,  and  deserve  great  credit  for 
their  work  in  giving  I^incoln  one  of  the  best  newspapers  west  of  Chi- 
cago. 

Amasa  Cobb  assisted  to  found  the  First  Xational  Haidv,  and  ha;^  al- 
ways been  an  useful  citizen.  He  is  now  a  mcnd)cr  oi"  the  State  Su- 
preme Court. 

John  R.  Clark,  President  of  the  First  Xational  JJank,  ami  Secretary 
of  the  State  Journal  Company,  is  an  useful  and  enterprising  citizen, 
who  has  extended  a  helping  hand  to  nearly  all  important  ])iil>lic  en- 
terprises for  the  benefit  of  the  city. 

T.  M.  Marquett  has  practiced  law  in  Lancaster  and  Lincoln  for 
twenty-six  years,  though  for  the  first  few  years  a  resident  of  Platts- 
mouth.  He  has  always  been  a  man  of  broad  views  in  matters  of  pub- 
lic interest,  and  has  worthily  earned  a  leading  position  in  the  city  as 
one  of  its  best,  wisest,  and  most  usefnl  citizens,  an  able  lawyer  and 
orator,  and  a  man  of  great  public  experience. 

John  H.  Ames,  is  one  of  the  pioneers,  an  able  lawyer,  and  a  man 
who  has  been  conspicuous  in  pushing  the  city. 

N.  S.  Harwood  is  a  prominent  financier,  capitalist,  and  attorney  of 
the  city,  and  a  leading  citizen. 

R.  H.  Oakley,  now  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  has  pioven  a 
very  strong  man  in  that  position,  and  through  his  energy,  tact,  and 
wisdom,  the  board  is  in  the  best  business  condition  it  ever  has  been  in, 
and  its  work  for  the  prosperity  of  the  city  has  been  most  commendable. 

T.  W.  Lowrey  is  a  very  extensive  grain  dealer,  a  capitalist,  and 
an  enterprising  citizen,  always  ready  to  help  in  pushing  the  city'-^ 
welfare.     He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

H.  J.  Walsh  has  been  identified  with  the  city's  business  interests 
from  an  early  day.  He  built  the  Academy  of  Music  block,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  O  and  Eleventh  streets,  in  company  with  Israel 
Putnam,  in  1873  and  1882.  He  is  prominently  connectetl  with  the 
Lincoln  Gas  Company,  and  has  been,  almost  from  its  organization,  a 
leading  stockholder.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  City  Council,  and 
has  served  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Asylum  for  the  Blind 
He  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  city  of  Lincoln  when  the  corpora- 
tion was  organized,  in  1869. 


i]7n 


IIIHIOKV    OK     I'lIK    crrV    OK    IJNCOI.X. 


.1.  Z.  I»ri.-('()c  is  oiM' <»r  the  iiio.'-i  lihcnil  <i(  i/.ciis  oC  Lincoln,  ;iinl  diic 
<j|'  llic  ni«»st  iiscdil  men  in  Itolli  Itiisincss  :in<l  ^cnciMl  pid^icss.  Tlic 
hucccsslnl  loiindinji  ol'  the  ('Inislinn  i'(A\c^c  owes  niiicli  lo  liis  lihcr- 
iilil  V,  conrM^c,  wisdom, :  I  ml  in<ln>(r\'.  lie  ^;iv«'  (lie  instihilion  .'$U.'>,()()(). 
He  li;is  Ixcn  ;i  iiicnilx  r  of  lli('()ily  ( Jouncil,  !in<l  is  jilwiiys  a  ^cncroHH 
;in(l  nvdnl  worker  lor  t  lie  I'il  \'s  intciv-sl,  liolli  Miii(('ri;il  itnd  rnoriil. 

I"'r;inl<  l>.  Sheldon  li;i.-  Iiel|i<il  <jre;itly  in  iMuldinj^  (liccil)',  liavin};- 
heen  :i  lonnder  fif  the  sheet  rail  way  service.  I  le  erected  dni-iii^  1887-8 
(heelenanl  Mock  on  I  h(!  sonlhwesi,  corner  of  X  :nid  l']lcv('nlh,  tlio 
l)lo<'k  adjoining-  llic  \Vinds(»f  Hold  on  llic  south,  :nid  his  elegant  ros- 
idence  ;il  l'dnrlc<'nlli  :ind  I»  streets,  lie  r;ink^  :inion^- our  most,  enlei- 
prisin^'  hiisiness  men. 

W.  \V.  Wilson  has  from  the  l)e;^innin!j  iieeii  ;i  liiilhlnl  worker  lor 
the  <.'i.od  (A'  the  c:i|,it:d  city.  lie,  with  W.  II.  15.  Sloiit  :ind  T.  !•'. 
I>arnes,  built  llic  ('\i\  iJlock,  on  the  northwr'st  corner  ol"  iN  and 
l''Jevenlh  streets. 

'r.  I''.  r.;irnes,  hnildcr  ol'  the  Windsor  ll<itel,  is  ;i  m:in  oC  n<'i've, 
such  M>  il  t;ikes  lo  Connd  :i  city.  His  encr«iy  is  witnessed  in  the  hrick 
walls  of  more  ihini  one  liloek. 

.lolin  \{.  Wehsler's  enter|trise  is  lo  some  d(orce  witnessed  in  the 
VVehslcr  liloek,  north  oC  'IVmple  Ihill,  on  South  I'llcvenih.  He  li;is 
licrii  :in  iii<lnslrious  huildcr  ol'  ihc  city  lor  iriiiny  years. 

.1.  II.  McMurtrv  li;is  h;i(l  few  if  any  superiors  as  an  enerjrelic, 
coiiriij^coirs  citizen  in  dc\<lopinn  the  progress  o I  Lincoln,  wdiere  he 
lias  li\cd  lor  sc\cnlccii  >(ars.  He  has  <;ver  liccn  ready  with  means, 
<'(>iinsel,  and  kilxd',  lo  :id\'eitise  llie  eily's  merits,  push  home  enler- 
])riHe,  ;ind  h:is  not  learcd  to  cast  his  roi'luncs  with  the  city.  H<! 
er<'c|ed  ihc  Itlick  hlock  where  the  coiiiih'  ollices  :ind  <'ourt  rooms  now 
are,  on  liie  west  side  ol  South  l']le\<iit  h,  near  AL  His  liiilli  in  and 
work  lor  Lincoln  li;is  been  rew;irded  in  the  dc\-clopmenl(ir  exl((MHive 
properh    intcresis  within  ;iiid   without   the  limits  ol    llic  |»lace. 

( y.  ('.and  L.  ( .'.  iJin'r  have  erected  a  sjdendid  inonumcnt  to  llieir 
imlnslrv  and  hnsiness  courage  in  llu;  niat:,nilicenl,  l>iirr  iJlock,  at  the 
nortlle.•l^t  collier  of  (  )  ;ind  Twcirih  streets.  A  i'chitcctnr:illy  lliis  is, 
|»crlia|)s,  llic  hiindsomcsl  hiiildinj^'  in  Nehraskn,  hein^  six  stories  in 
liei;j;lit  exclusive  ol"  the  hasemenl,  ol"  mslie-slone  linish,  and  heaiiti- 
liill\'  desinned  in  c\cry  <letail. 

S.  I».   I'oiind  was  one  ol'  the  scrv  earliest    nicrchnnts  on    the  site  oC 


LINCOLN    AK    A     MIISIN  J<]SS    < 'KNTKi:.  ,'377 

tins  city,  and  he  bceaiuc  one  of  its  earliest  attorneys,  and  until  recently 
was  a  very  popular  District  .ludj^e.  He  has  ever  been  a  respected  and 
excellent  citizen  since  the  foundation  of  the  (.-ity. 

J.  R.  and  L.  C.  Richards  are  aniouf^-  the  city's  leadiu<i,-  capitalists, 
and  their  prominence  as  builders  of  the  city  is  marked  by  the  defiant 
block  which  bears  their  name  at  the  northeast  corner  of  ()  and  Kiev- 
en  th  streets. 

A.  D.  Kitchen  is  a  prominent  contributor  to  the  city's  j^rowth,  be- 
ing now  engaged  in  building  two  or  three  fine  brick  blocks  on  ()  street, 
between  Ffteenth  and  Sixteenth.  Pie  has  lent  a  helping  hand  in  de- 
veloping Lincoln  in  many  other  respects. 

'].  C  McBride  has  been  a  courageous  and  energetic  citizen  in  the 
city's  interests  for  years,  having  been  liberal  with  means  and  ready 
with  other  assistance  and  encouragement.  IFe  has  been  postmaster  of 
the  city,  twice  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  prominently  identified 
with  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  He  has  a  fine;  brick  block  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  P  and  Twelfth  streets, 

J  Jr.  Latta  is  now  completing  an  elegant  block  of  red  sand- stone  at 
129  South  Eleventh.  When  done  it  will  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
city.  It  is  in  room  four  of  this  block  that  this  history  of  Jiincoln 
was  written. 

John  Zehrung  has  been  an  active  citizen,  his  brick  block  at  121 '> 
and  1210  O  street  being  an  evidence  of  his  substantial  work  as  a 
builder  of  the  city. 

O.  P.  Mason  and  (J.  ().  Whedon  are  a  firm  of  attorneys  about  as 
widely  known  as  any  in  Nebraska.  Judge  Mason  was  on  the  su- 
preme bench  in  1866,  and  was  a  distinguished  Secretary  of  the  State 
Jioard  of  Transportation,  jn-evious  to  the  present  year,  for  two  years. 
C.  O.  Whedon  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  the  State  Legislature 
during  the  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth,  and  Eighteenth  sessions,  and  has 
held  various  public  positions  in  tliecity.  Both  men  have  been  active 
and  influential  citizens  throughout  much  of  the  city's  history. 

A  genuinely  earnest  builder  of  the  financial,  moral,  and  intellectual 
features  of  the  city's  prosperity,  is  C.  C.  Munson.  He  is  a  wc.rker 
with  purse,  hand,  and  heart,  for  the  general  good.  He  is  building  up 
a  large  wholesale  lumber  and  lime  trade,  is  hel|)ing  to  erect  the  Chris- 
tian University,  is  a  director  in  the  (jlcrmati  National  liaiik.  and  an 
active  worker  in  the  Board  of  Trade. 
25 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY    OF    LINCOLN. 

Prominent,  earnest,  and  valuable,  workers  for  the  city's  develop- 
ment, in  the  present  Board  of  Trade,  are:  Joseph  Boehmer,  C.  J. 
Ernst,  Mason  Gregg,  M.  L.  Trester,  A.  H.  Weir,  C.  T.  Brown,  C. 
A.  Atkinson,  and  C  W.  Mosher. 

C.  H.  Hutchins  has  erected  two  fine  brick  blocks  in  the  past  two 
years,  one  on  Xinth  near  X,  and  the  other  on  O  near  Fifteenth. 

Dr.  W.  G.  Houtz  has  proven  himself  a  valuable  and  enterprising 
citizen  and  builder  of  the  city. 

W.  R.  Kelley,  John  Doolittle,  Hon.  E.  P.  Roggen,  A.  Hurlbut, 
H.  H.  Dean,  John  Burks,  J.  H.  Harley,  and  John  J.  Gillilan,  have 
all  shown  enterprise  and  energy,  and  have  done  good  service  as  city 
builders. 

J.  E.  Utt,  who,  as  the  very  able  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
during  1887-8  was  mainly  instrumental  in  securing  equitable  freight 
tariffs  for  Lincoln  from  Pacific  Coast  points,  rendered  the  city  and 
State  a  great  and  lasting  service.  He  is  now  interested  in  the  paper 
mill  located  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  city. 

John  ISlorrison,  who  was  the  earliest  tailor  in  the  city,  except  Chris- 
tian F.  Dararow,  having  been  here  since  1869,  is  still  doing  a  good 
business  at  121  North  Eleventh.     He  is  one  of  the  popular  pioneers. 

Few  men  have  had  more  genuine  success  than  H.  H.  Schaberg, 
Beginning  as  a  blacksmith,  with  his  industry  and  persistent  attention 
to  business,  in  a  little  shop  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Eleventh  and 
P  streets,  in  1869,  he  has  hammered  his  way  up  to  the  possession  of 
the  brick  block  on  that  corner,  the  presidency  of  the  German  National 
Bank,  and  a  place  among  the  large  capitalists  of  the  city.  His  success 
shows  what  men  can  do  in  Lincoln  who  work  and  use  their  oppor- 
tunities. 

John  B.  Wright  has  been  a  citizen  of  Lincoln  lor  fourteen  years, 
having  originally  come  from  Rochester,  New  York,  where  he  was 
born  in  1847.  He  is  one  of  the  largest  dealers  in  grain  in  this  city 
or  State,  being  interested  in  forty-two  diiferent  elevators  in  Nebraska 
and  Kansas.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  handling  flax  seed.  He  has 
enlarged  and  ini])rovcd  his  big  elevator  at  M  and  Eighth  streets  this 
season,  preparatory  to  opening  the  immense  fall  business  he  will  have 
to  manage.  He  has  ever  been  an  active  citizen  of  Lincoln.  He  was 
elected  Mayor  of  the  city  both  in  1880  and  1881,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  House  of  the  State  Legislature  of  the  Nineteenth  session  in 


LINCOLN    AS    A    BUSINESS   CENTER.  379 

1883.  He  is  now  a  leadino-  inonil){>r  of  the  lioanl  of  Trade,  and  did 
good  work  in  placing-  the  board  upon  the  exceUent  working  ba.sis  on 
which  it  now  stands. 

H.  W.  Hardy,  now  editor  of  the  Xcv  Jiipuhlir,  has  been  twice 
Mayor  of  the  city,  but  is  most  distinguished  as  the  Lincoln  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  fighting  in  fiivor  of  temperance,  morals,  and  the  im- 
provement of  the  social  welfare  of  men.  He  is  an  uncomi)romising 
warrior  for  the  principles  of  purity  and  progress,  and  is  the  best 
known  character  in  Nebraska  in  that  work,  except  alone  the  late  John 
B.  Finch. 

Elder  P.  W.  Howe,  Chaplain  of  the  State  penitentiary  and  City 
Missionary,  is  the  executive  officer  of  the  City  Kelief  and  aid  Society, 
an  organization  designed  to  help  and  protect  the  weak,  neccK ,  and 
helpless,  especially  women  and  children.  He  is  doing  a  noble  wurk, 
having  followed  this  line  of  benevolent  service  for  nine  years  in  Xew 
York  city,  and  nearly  as  many  in  Lincoln. 

Albert  Watkins,  for  nearly  four  years  past,  has  been  })ostniaster  of 
Lincoln,  and  a  public-spirited  citizen.  General  \'ictor  A^itlpiain,  hav- 
ing founded  the  Daili/  iSfafc  Democrat  in  1879,  Mr.  Watkins  bought 
it  in  1882  and  continued  its  editor  until  aj)pointed  postmaster,  in  No- 
vember, 1885,  though  Mr.  \"ifquain  bought  an  interest  in  1884.  The 
paper  passed  into  the  hands  of  J.  D.  Calhoun  in  August  of  1880,  who 
conducted  it  successfully  for  two  years. 

Palmer  Way  was  probably  the  first  tinner  of  J-<incoln,  and  one  of 
the  first  hardware  men.  He  has  been  a  business  man  of  the  city  for 
twenty -two  years. 

R.  C.  Outcalt,  cashier  of  the  Capital  National  Bank,  is  the  oldest 
banker  of  Lincoln,  Nelson  C.  Brock  excepte<l.  He  first  entered  the 
bank  of  Sweet  &  Brock,  in  1870,  and  has  been  continuously  connecte<l 
with  the  banking  business  in  the  city  ever  since.  He  is  one  of  the 
best  posted  financiers  of  Lincoln. 

Hundreds  of  other  men  might  be  named,  whose  infiuenee  and  wealth 
have,  for  varying  periods  of  years,  been  used  toward  making  Lincoln 
what  she  is  to-day;  but  enough  have  been  given  to  show  that  Lin- 
coln's growth  has  been,  in  part  at  least,  the  result  of  the  faith  in  her 
future  held  by  her  citizens.  Future  years  will  un<loubtedly  show  a 
continuation  of  the  wonderful  progress  made  by  the  city  in  the  |»ast 
twenty-two  years.     Such,  at  least,  are  the  signs  of  the  times. 


Erratum  —  On  page  151,  under  cut  of  Sweet's  Block,  read  "Northeast  corner  of 

O  and  Tenth." 


Ljndell  •  Hotel, 

THE  MOST     SELECT  HOTEL  IN  THE  CITY. 

A.  L  HOOVER  &  SON,  Proprietors. 


K   a 
»  o 


.-  z 


SF  iiSiiJi! 


illjll 


■<  53  5 

-  H  3  c 

P  3  8  ^ 

^  ?  •?  '■^ 


Corner  13th  &  M  Streets, 


LINCOLN,  NEBRASKA. 


Take  12lh  Street  Car  Line  from  B  <C-  M.  Depot,  and  lOlh  StreH  Line  from.  M.  P.  cO  F.  K.  <t-  M.  V.  J>e/)Ols. 


JOHN  MORRISON, 

Merchant  Tailor, 


121   North  Eleventh  Street, 


LINCOLN.  NEBRASKA. 


THE   FINEST    LINE   OF 


FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC  SUITINGS  ALWAYS  ON  HAND. 

SATISFACTION   GUARANTEED. 

^     J.  B.  TRICKEY  &  CO. 

IMPORTERS  OF 

DIAMONDS 


W  IIOLKSAI.r.    ANh    1;KTA11.    lillAI.Kl:-    IN 


All  American  Wjilcbes,  Jewelry,  Clocks,  Solid  Silver  Ware.  Etc. 
1035   O  Street,  Lincoln.  Neb. 


S.  J.  ODELL. 

1121   N   Street. 

The  Best  Appointed  and  Most  Popular  Dining  Hall  in  the  West. 
Elegant  Service  and  Seasonable  Menu. 

Ternjs  for  Table  Board,  $4.50  per  Week.  Single  Meals,  25  Gents. 

J.  M.  MARKELL  &  SON, 

JEWELERS. 

Watclies,  Glocks,  Jewelry,  Diamonds,  Etc. 

FINE  WORK  A  SPECIALTY. 
Zehrung  Block,  143  South  12th  St.  Lincoln,  Neb. 


P.  J.  KENNEDY, 

No.  125  North  Twelfth  Street. 


ABSOLUTELY  PURE, UNADULTERATPD 


WINES,  Whiskeys,  AND  brandies, 

FOR  FAMILY  MEDICINAL  USE. 


«^ALL    GOODS    GUARANTEED    AS    REPRESENTED. -=©» 


All  the  Best  Brands  of  Rye  and  Bourbon. 

FINCH'S  Golden  Wedding  Rye  a  Specialty. 

Genuine  Cognac  Brandy,  and  Imported  Ports  and  Sherries. 


CARR 


-J2 


^ 


:-44<-<- 


-«•» 


SOAP 


^-H. 


-*WORKS 


Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


MANUFACTURER    OF 


LAUNDRY,  Bath,  and  T 


rm 


D 


•••    HOTEL    SO^IE^    •?• 

(ANY  SIZE) 

Made  to  Order  witli  Name  of  House  Imprinted  on  eacti  Cake. 


G.  B.  SKINNER 

Owner  of  SKINNER'S  BARN. 

Livery,  Feed,  and  Boarding  Stables. 

DEALER  IN  FANCY  HORSES. 

Turns  out  the  Most  Stylish  Single  or  Double  Rigs 
in  the  West.     The  Prices  are  made  so  Rea- 
sonable that  it  is  cheaper  to  hire  of 
Skinner  than  to  keep  a  Rig  of 
your  own. 

JAMES  C.  KIER. 

The  Hatter  and  Furnisher. 

AGENCY  FOR 

J^NOX  WORLD  RENOWNED  HATS. 

Cor.  O  and  11th  Streets.  LINCOLN,  NEBRASKA. 

N.  S.  Haewood.  John  H.  Ames  .  \V.  R.  Kelley. 

HARWOOD,  AMES  &  KELLEY, 

Attorneys  at  Law 

Attorneys  and  Directors  of  Lincoln  National  Bank. 
145  SOUTH  IITH  ST.,  LINCOLN,  NEB. 


Farmers  and  Merchants  Insurance  Co., 

FARM  AND  RESIDENCE  PROPERTY  A  SPECIALTY. 

Capital,  $100,000.00.  Assets,  Jan.  i,  1889,  $229,342,06. 

Surplus,  AS  REGARDS  Policy  Holders,  $227,500,67. 


^?^^jfev 


226  South  Eleventh  Street,  Lincoln,  Neb.      Ground  Floor. 

T.  W.  TOWNSEND,  Prop. 

Photographs,  Crayons,  and  Bromides,  finished  in  the  Latest  Style  of  Art. 


Fremont,  Elkhorn  and  Missouri  Valley 

— IN— 

INEBRASKA, 

The  Black  Hills 

— AND — 

CENTRAL  WYOMING. 

IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE 

Chicago  &  Northwestern,  and  the  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  R.  R. 

IS  THE 

Direct  Passenger  and  Fast  Freight  Line 

BETWEEN 

Lincoln,  Omaha,  Hastings, 

The  Black  Hills  and  Central  Wyoming, 

— AND — 

Sbicago,  %l  Paul,  Milwaukee,  Minneapolis. 

AND  ALL  POINTS 

North,  East  and  West 


H.  G.  BURT,  K.  C.  MOHEHOUSE,        J.  R.  BUCHANAN, 

Gen'l  Manager.  G.  F.  Agent.  Gen'l  Pass.  Agent. 

OMAHA,  NEB. 


THE 


AND 

NEBRASKA'S 


Favorite  Route, 

ING 

THE  BEST  LOCAL  SERVICE, 


-OFFERING- 


-AND  RUNNING- 


Pullman  Palace  Sleepers, 

Free  Reclining  Chair  Cars, 
Pullman  Dining  Cars, 

And  Modern  Day  Coaches, 
^>THE  DIREST  LINE  TO  DENVER<^ 


-AND- 


All  Colorado,  Kansas,  Wyoming,  Utah,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Cal- 
ifornia, Washington,  and'  Puget  Sound  Points. 


QUICK  TIME. 
UNEQUALED  ACCOMMODATIONS.    MAGNIFICENT  SCENERY, 

For  Rates,  Pamphlets,  aud  other  information,  apply  to 

E.   B.  SLOSSON,  City  Ticket  Agent, 

1044  O  Street,  LINCOLN,  NEB. 

THOS.   L.   KIMBALL,  C.   S.   MELLEN,  E.   L.   LOMAX, 

General  Manager.  Traffic  Manager.  Gen'l  Pass.  Agent- 

OMAHA,  NEB. 


m^&, 


^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
Los  Angeles 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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